SIAIN1916 


;tephen'graiiam 


THE  LIBEIARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


ROOK   DUE   LAST   DATE 
S'^WTPED   BEIiOW 


RUSSIA  IN  1916 


nOAKHF-L  €CTL  H  Kh  KOpLK  J , 
..     KLIClUiH  nOAKMl^  KL TCpn-fellKH, 


RUSSIA  IN  1916 


BY 

STEPHEN  GRAHAM 

Author  of  "The  Way  of  Martha  and  the  Way 
of  Mary,"  "Russia  and  the  World,''  etc 


7HE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1917 


COPYBIGHT,    1917, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
Set  up  and  electrotyped.      Published,   February,   1917. 


:)(os 


D 

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PREFACE 

I  RETURNED  to  Russia  last  summer,  visited 
as  many  of  my  old  friends  there  as  I  could, 
arranged  for  the  publication  of  some  of  my 
books  in  the  Russian  language,  and  inci- 
dentally travelled  a  great  deal  and  saw  a 
great  many  sides  of  Russian  contemporary 
life,  talked  also  with  all  manner  of  Russians. 
I  travelled  to  Bergen  in  Norway,  from 
Bergen  obtained  a  passage  round  the  North 
Cape  to  Vardo,  the  last  port  of  Norway, 
transhipped  there  to  a  Russian  boat  and 
sailed  for  Ekaterina,  the  first  port  in  Rus- 
sia in  the  North,  the  new  Russian  harbour 
which  never  freezes.  From  Ekaterina  I 
went  on  to  Archangel,  where  I  stayed  a 
week,  and  from  Archangel  went  to  Moscow. 
I  visited  some  estates  in  Central  Russia 
and  stayed  with  various  acquaintances  and 
friends,  visited  Rostof-on-the-Don,  the  Cau- 
casus, Orel,  Petrograd,  and  finally  came 
back  to  England  on  a  returning  ammunition 
ship. 


.  &- 


PREFACE 

In  going  to  Russia  I  certainly  did  not  in- 
tend to  publish  my  impressions  in  book 
form,  but  I  have  been  asked  to  do  so,  and 
I  recognise  the  value  of  keeping  in  contact 
w^ith  our  Ally  from  day  to  day.  The  re- 
quirement of  the  moment  seems  to  be  not  so 
much  books  on  Russia,  of  which  there  are 
now  a  great  mnry,  but  diaries  or  volumes 
of  impressions,  keeping  the  peoples  of  the 
two  countries  in  touch  during  the  war.  I 
returned  to  London  at  the  beginning  of  Oc- 
tober, 1916,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  think 
that  some  one  returning  at  the  beginning  of 
January,  1917,  would  follow  on  with  another 
small  volume  of  this  type.  Again  for 
April,  1917.  We  need  such  volumes  of  per- 
sonal impressions,  and  there  would  not  be 
the  need  to  apologise  for  them.  They  are 
letters  between  friends  both  engaged  in  the 
same  vital  task.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to 
keep  in  touch  with  Russia  by  reading  news- 
papers only.  The  newspapers  are,  on  the 
whole,  difficult  to  follow.  They  are  con- 
cerned with  the  news-aspect  of  events  and 
the  scope  for  sensational  appeals.  Good 
quiet  correspondence  tends  to  be  lost  in 
them.     Hence  my  little  book  of  the  hour. 


PREFACE 

I  was  in  Russia  when  the  war  broke  out 
in  19 14.  I  spent  191 5  in  Egypt,  the  Bal- 
kans, Russia  and  England,  and  again  I  spent 
the  summer  of  1916  in  Russia.  I  have, 
therefore,  been  in  touch  with  the  Russians 
all  the  time  of  the  war.  I  hope,  therefore, 
that  in  this  time  when  deeds  rather  than 
words  are  necessary,  my  report  of  the  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  the  land  of  our  ally  Rus- 
sia may  be  considered  serviceable. 

Stephen  Graham. 

London, 

15  January   191 7. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  A  Journey  to  Ekaterina  ....       i 

II    The  Dark  Haven ii 

III  The  New  Archangel 25 

IV  The  Cost  of  Living 36 

V    Life  in  the  Country 49 

VI    Father  Yevgeny 60 

VII    A  Russian  Countess 72 

VIII  Russian  Literature  in  1916  .      .     .     81 

IX    Russia  in  1916 loi 

X    Russian   Money no 

XI  Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine       .   118 

XII     Gay   Life 133 

XIII  Old  Friends 143 

XIV  Russia's  New  War  Picture    .     .      .152 
XV    In  the  Hospital i57 

XVI  The  Prospects  for  Peace       .     .     .   166 

XVII    Home 181 


RUSSIA  IN   1916 


A  JOURNEY  TO  EKATERINA 

I  PROPOSED  to  go  from  Newcastle  to  Bergen, 
to  go  by  Norwegian  steamer  from  Bergen 
to  Vardo  or  Kirkenaes  on  the  far  north- 
eastern limits  of  Norway,  and  then  wait  for 
some  sort  of  boat  to  take  me  to  Ekaterina. 
In  this  I  was  successful,  though  it  was  not 
possible  to  book  any  passage  beforehand  in 
England. 

I  left  the  night  the  first  misleading  news 
of  the  North  Sea  battle  was  received.  If 
that  news  had  been  correct  it  would  have 
meant  that  the  German  Fleet  had  broken 
through  and  w^as  at  large,  and  that  each 


^ 


2  Russia  in  1916 

war  vessel  had  become  a  commerce  trader. 
We  stood  a  chance  of  being  revised  by  Ger- 
mans and  perhaps  of  all  English  of  age 
being  taken  away.  A  British  captain  said 
to  me  afterwards,  "We  received  that  first 
news  as  we  were  leaving  a  South  American 
port  with  a  cargo  of  nitre.  We  realised  at 
once  that  the  chances  must  now  be  consid- 
ered against  our  arriving  safely  at  a  home 
port." 

Because  of  the  battle  the  mail  boat  which 
had  been  due  in  at  Newcastle  in  the  morn- 
ing, arrived  only  at  nightfall,  the  revising 
officers  were  late  in  coming  from  the  ex- 
amination of  the  one  to  the  examination  of 
the  other — the  Rhanvald  Jarl,  due  to  go 
out  from  Newcastle  that  night.  I  did  not 
get  to  my  cabin  till  half-past-one  in  the 
morning,  and  had  spent  some  hours  among 
drunken  sailors,  one  of  whom  was  sick  on 
the  stairs  of  the  Aliens  Officer's  room. 


A  Journey  to  Ekaterina  3 

The  journey  to  Bergen  was  not  pleasant. 

No  one  to  breakfast,  no  one  to  lunch,  no 
one  to  dinner.  I  doubt  if  any  one  felt  in 
the  least  anxious  about  German  cruisers  or 
stray  mines.  There  was  other  preoccupa- 
tion. 

At  Bergen  I  stayed  three  days  in  a  hotel. 
The  news  in  the  Norwegian  papers  did  not 
flatter  the  efforts  of  the  Allies.  Explana- 
tions of  the  real  significance  of  the  North 
Sea  battle  began  to  appear,  but  they  had 
the  suggestion  of  merely  trying  to  give  a 
better  face  to  what  was  in  reality  a  very  un- 
pleasant happening.  For  the  rest  the  Ger- 
mans seemed  to  be  going  ahead,  and  had 
captured  the  fort  of  Vaux.  The  only  set- 
off against  these  things  was  the  first  intelli- 
gence of  the  Russian  advance  in  Galicia. 

I  sailed  northward  in  the  Vesteraalen, 
the  Norwegian  mail  boat  going  to  far 
Kirkenaes.     Boats  go  four  or  five  times  a 


4  Russia  in  1916 

week  the  whole  distance  of  the  Norwegian 
coast.  They  are  slow,  but,  if  time  is  no 
object,  it  is  a  most  interesting  journey — 
the  placid  fiords  and  jolly  channels  between 
mountains,  the  veritable  gates  in  the  rocks 
which  upon  occasion  you  pass  through,  the 
many  fishing  villages  and  the  trawlers 
weighed  down  with  herrings,  the  busy 
women  with  their  knives  cleaning  the  fish 
and  emptying  barrelful  after  barrelful  of 
entrails  into  the  sea,  the  thousands  of  gulls 
ever  calling,  dipping,  screeching,  chasing 
one  another,  and  then  the  Lofoten  Islands 
with  their  mighty  heights,  the  increasingly 
stern  more  northern  aspect  of  Nature,  and 
the  dwellings  of  man,  the  passing  of  the 
Arctic  line,  the  brilliant  nights  with  the  sun 
still  on  the  shoulder  of  the  sky  at  midnight. 
I  fell  in  with  an  English  Consul,  a  young 
man  going  to  Vardo  to  do  special  work  in 
connection  with  the  war.     He  was  accom- 


A  Journey  to  Ekaterina  5 

panied  by  his  wife,  and  she,  for  her  part, 
had  never  been  out  of  England  before.  At 
every  place  the  steamer  stopped  we  got  out 
and  went  for  a  walk — sometimes  for  ten 
minutes,  sometimes  for  an  hour  or  so,  ac- 
cording to  the  extent  of  the  cargo  that  had  to 
be  discharged  or  taken  on. 

At  Hammerfest,  the  most  northern  town 
in  Europe,  dirty  snow  still  lay  on  the  edges 
of  the  streets.  A  wild  place  this  Hammer- 
fest, apparently  all  men  and  no  women,  the 
roadway  thronged  with  hardy  sailors.  A 
whole  forest  of  masts  in  the  harbour,  an  all- 
pervading  smell  of  cod  liver  oil  in  the  town, 
a  grey  and  ugly  port  in  June,  whatever  it 
may  be  later  on. 

Many  Norwegians  spoke  English,  though 
with  an  American  accent,  and  they  were 
very  friendly  to  us.  I  was  interested,  too, 
to  observe  their  love  of  their  own  land,  a 
real  attachment  to  the  rocks  of  Norway. 


6  Russia  in  1916 

It  is  majestic  scenery  all  the  way  from 
Bergen  to  the  North  Cape,  and  it  has  some- 
what of  the  characteristic  melancholy  of  the 
North.  If  Russians  lived  in  this  land  they 
would  love  it  for  its  sadness.  But  the 
Norwegians  love  its  ruggedness,  and  they 
say  that  the  wild  and  rugged  nature  of  their 
land  has  made  them  what  they  are.  And 
I  suppose  Scots  would  find  there  grandeur 
and  the  sublimity  of  Nature. 

After  the  North  Cape  we  entered  a  re- 
gion of  utter  desolation,  the  coast  a  line  of 
snow,  the  sea  grey  and  dead  with  the  occa- 
sional black  back  of  a  porpoise  showing. 
The  wind  was  cold  and  wintry.  We  knew 
that  at  Vardo  we  should  find  no  flowers,  no 
vegetation. 

At  Vardo  I  left  the  boat  as  I  had  discov- 
ered that  boats  went  to  and  fro  to  Russia 
therefrom.  An  important  place  this  Vardo, 
and  a  sharp  look-out  on  Germans  should  al- 


A  Journey  to  Ekaterina  7 

ways  be  kept  here.  If  a  submarine  cam- 
paign against  the  shipping  of  Archangel 
broke  out,  there  would  probably  be  some 
connivance  on  the  part  of  Germans  or  neu- 
trals resident  hereabout,  and  possible  bases 
on  this  desolate  coast. 

A  most  forlorn  region  subject  to  terrific 
gales,  cold  and  snowy.  It  has  a  great  num- 
ber of  grey  wooden  docks  with  grey  fish- 
ing-boats ;  almost  all  the  houses  are  of  wood, 
and  are  of  the  same  grey  complexion  as  boats 
and  quays,  they  are  low  and  squat,  and  the 
dirty  streets  are  wide.  Innumerable  gulls 
are  diving  and  dipping  and  fluttering — and 
shrieking  in  chorus. 

There  are  two  hotels.  One  is  called  ap- 
propriately "The  North  Pole,"  the  other  is 
"Vinnans  Hotel."  I  stayed  at  the  latter, 
and  this,  astonishing  to  relate,  is  a  first- 
class  hotel  with  electric  light  and  a  tele- 
phone in  every  room,  though  there  is  no  one 


8  Russia  in  1916 

in  the  town  with  whom  you  can  communi- 
cate. There  is  an  electric  arrangement  on 
the  wall  for  lighting  your  cigarette — you 
press  a  button  and  a  disc  becomes  red-hot, 
and  at  that  you  light  up.  I  suppose  some 
Christiania  contractor  had  put  this  up,  faith- 
ful to  the  specification  quoted  in  his  tender. 
My  windows  had  scarlet  blinds,  and  all 
night  long  the  midnight  sun  poured  crimson 
light  on  my  white  bed,  the  huge  wind 
howled  and  bellowed,  and  innumerable 
gulls  cried  up  and  down,  now  this  side,  now 
that. 

In  the  bleak  and  lonely  cemetery  are  Rus- 
sian graves  with  naive  carvings  of  the  Vir- 
gin and  Child  on  the  orthodox  wooden 
crosses.  Many  a  Russian  sailor  and  fisher- 
man has  perished  on  this  side  of  his  father- 
land. 

There  are  amusements  in  the  town,  two 
cinema  shows  packed  every  night,  a  shoot- 


A  Journey  to  Ekaterina  9 

ing  saloon,  an  Aunt  Sallie  shy  called 
''Amerikanske  Sport."  I  hit  down  one 
ugly  face  and  received  as  a  reward  a  post- 
card picture  of  a  pretty  Norwegian  girl 
about  to  give  a  kiss  to  her  beau;  there  are 
band-of-hope  meetings  with  the  most  excru- 
ciating music,  and  you  see  advertised — raf- 
fles. 

One  day  fifteen  negroes  arrived  on  a  boat 
from  Russia.     They  were  the  crew  of  the 

American  ship  R which  had  brought 

ammunition  to  Archangel,  but  was  in  such 
a  bad  condition  that  the  negroes  refused  to 
take  it  back,  got  their  money  and  cleared 
off.  At  Vardo  one  of  them  had  quarrelled 
with  the  rest  and  was  now  said  to  be  mad. 
No  one  would  take  him  in,  all  the  girls  be- 
ing frightened,  and  the  children  aiming 
stones  at  him.  He  was  accommodated  in 
the  gaol. 

At  Vardo  there  is  a  most  able  Russian 


lo  Russia  in  1916 

Consul  who  is  not  only  most  useful  to  his 
own  Government,  but  also  to  ours,  affording 
him  all  the  help  he  can.  And  a  Russian 
knows  more  of  this  neighbourhood  and  its 
phenomena  than  an  Englishman  brought 
from  Christiania  or  London.  Through 
him  I  learned  that  a  boat-  would  soon  be 
sailing  for  Alexandrovsk,  the  harbour  of 
Ekaterina,  and  after  a  five-days'  stay  at 
Vardo  I  got  away. 

Over  the  sea  once  more!  In  twelve 
hours  I  was  at  the  Russian  Monastery  of 
Petschenga,  and  next  day  in  a  big  snow- 
storm I  came  to  the  new  harbour. 


II 

THE  DARK  HAVEN 

From  the  end  of  November  to  the  middle 
of  January  the  sun  does  not  rise  in  Russia's 
new  haven.  All  would  be  dark  even  at 
mid-day  were  it  not  for  the  snow.  The 
stars  never  set.  The  lights  in  the  little 
wooden  dwellings  are  never  put  out.  Great 
gales  blow,  rolling  up  mountainous  waves 
on  the  Arctic.  Or  Polar  mists  swallow  up 
everything.  Snowstorms  go  on  indefinitely 
and  the  frost  may  be  forty  degrees,  fifty 
degrees.  Here  is  no  town,  no  civilisation. 
Alexandrovsk  has  no  pavement,  no  high 
street,  no  cinema  theatre,  no  hotel,  not  even 
a  tavern.  Its  population  is  hard,  gloomy, 
northern.     No  one  has  any  intelligence  of 

11 


12  Russia  in  1916 

the  great  world  far  away  to  the  south — the 
gaze  is  toward  the  North  Pole. 

They  say  it  has  a  great  future.  'Twill 
be  a  mighty  city  with  roaring  traffic  and 
skyscrapers,  theatres,  cafes,  passion,  and 
sin.  It  will  be  the  Odessa  of  the  North. 
Valery  Brussof  anticipates  such  a  city  in 
one  of  his  fantastic  stories — Zvezdny,  the 
capital  of  the  Southern  Cross  Republic, 
and  as  we  read  we  ask — "Could  it  be? 
Could  such  a  place  ever  come  to  be?" 

In  any  case,  in  the  midst  of  this  great  de- 
structive war  one  piece  of  constructive  work 
is  in  hand,  the  fashioning  of  a  new  port 
for  Russia  far  within  the  Arctic  circle.  We 
hear  little  of  the  work  in  England,  or  we 
hear  laconic  accounts,  such  as:  "A  branch 
of  railways  has  been  built  on  from  Archan- 
gel to  an  ice-free  port  farther  north,  kept 
open  by  the  Gulf  Stream,"  which  is  inac- 
curate as  regards  the  route  of  the  railway 


The  Dark  Haven  13 

and,  moreover,  gives  the  impression  that 
such  a  railway  is  easily  built,  might,  in 
fact,  be  improvised.  But  in  truth  it  is  not 
so  trivial  a  matter.  The  nearer  you  get  to 
the  actual  place  the  more  astonished  you  are 
to  recollect  the  airy  opinions  you  heard  ex- 
pressed in  Fleet  Street  at  home. 

The  harbour  of  Ekaterina,  on  which  stand 
the  town  of  Alexandrovsk  and  the  barracks 
of  Semionova,  is  a  queen  of  harbours,  a  mar- 
vellous natural  refuge,  certainly  no  make- 
shift place.  And  then,  as  a  glance  at  the 
map  will  convince,  it  is  not  near  Archangel, 
least  of  all  by  land.  No  railway  could  ever 
go  direct  from  Alexandrovsk  to  Archangel, 
and  no  railway  of  any  kind  could  easily  or 
rapidly  be  built  over  a  thousand  miles  of 
tundra. 

Those  Russians  who  live  in  the  north  are 
in  raptures  over  their  new  port.  Russia 
shall  face  north,  the  whole  of  North  Russia 


14  Russia  in  1916 

shall  be  functionised  in  Alexandrovsk  and 
Archangel.  And,  indeed,  the  longer  the 
war  lasts  the  better  for  this  northern  region 
materially.  If  the  war  lasts  three  years 
longer  Russia  will  certainly  finish  up  in 
possession  of  a  new  port  and  a  valuable 
railway. 

An  enormous  undertaking  this,  of  trying 
to  plant  a  railway  on  the  tundra.  Many 
have  died  at  work  on  it;  hundreds  must 
inevitably  die  before  it  is  a  success.  It 
was  difficult  to  engineer.  Russians  say 
now  that  it  was  badly  surveyed  to  start  with 
and  needs  re-planning,  but  in  any  case  it 
was  extremely  difficult  to  find  a  way  over 
the  mosses  and  morasses  and  along  the  shores 
of  the  almost  continuous  lakes  that  lie  be- 
tween Kola  and  Kandalaksha.  The  map  of 
the  railway  is  now  published  in  Norway 
and  Sweden.  It  might  just  as  well  be  made 
accessible  to  the  English  Press.    When  Lord 


The  Dark  Haven  15 

Kitchener  died,  maps  showing  his  route 
were  printed  in  our  papers  as  if  he  had  been 
going  to  Alexandrovsk  (which  was  not  the 
case)  to  travel  on  a  railway  which  was  not 
in  existence  to  Archangel!  This  caused 
much  amusement  in  Russia. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  railway  runs  from 
Semionova  across  the  Kola  peninsula  to  the 
White  Sea  at  Kandalaksha,  and  then  be- 
comes practically  a  coast  railway  to  the 
little  port  of  Kem.  Thence  there  is  a  good 
railway  to  Petrozavodsk  and  Petrograd. 
It  does  not  come  near  Archangel.  Indeed, 
if  the  formation  of  this  new  harbour  and 
railway  should  be  a  practical  success. 
Archangel  is  almost  bound  to  suffer  and  to 
relapse  from  its  present  state  of  prosperity 
to  its  former  somnolence. 

The  railway  when  completed  will  be  a 
memorable  and  valuable  achievement.  It 
has  taken  an  enormous  amount  of  labour  to 


i6  Russia  in  1916 

construct.  First,  Russian  gangs  were  set 
to  work  and  then  they  were  called  to  fight 
for  their  country.  A  Canadian  contractor 
or  contracting  company  was  then  success- 
ful in  obtaining  the  work.  But  the  work- 
men sent  over  found  themselves  confronted 
by  conditions  that  were  necessarily  difficult 
to  have  realised  in  advance.  They  faced 
the  problem  in  a  commercial  rather  than  in 
a  military  spirit.  And  when  they  had  gone 
there  was  almost  as  much  work  in  prospect 
as  when  they  came. 

Their  place  was  largely  taken  by  Austrian 
prisoners  who  had  volunteered  from  their 
internment  camps  to  come  out  and  work 
for  a  wage.  The  estimate  of  the  numbers 
thus  employed  ranges  from  10,000  to  20,000 
men.  They  were  guarded  by  Cherkesses, 
troops  from  the  Caucasus  who  presumably 
had  also  volunteered,  since  military  service 
was  not  obligatory  for  them.     The  Austri- 


The  Dark  Haven  17 

ans  worked  well  and  did  some  of  the  best 
work  on  the  railway.  But  there  was  con- 
siderable suffering.  Now  10,000  China- 
men, Kirghiz,  and  Mongols  of  various  kinds 
are  at  work. 

In  the  summer,  except  for  water  under 
foot  and  mosquitoes  in  the  air,  the  condi- 
tions are  good,  but  in  the  winter  all  the 
men  are  working  with  torches  in  the  dark- 
ness. Despite  much  forethought  on  the 
part  of  the  Government  many  of  the  men 
have  proved  to  be  yet  too  thinly  clad  to 
withstand  the  great  frosts.  The  food  from 
a  European  point  of  view  is  coarse.  Yet 
the  work  must  go  on,  must  be  done.  This 
year,  before  the  spring,  one  engine  covered 
the  whole  of  the  course  of  the  railway — 
one  only — and  then  the  thaw  came  and 
enormous  stretches  of  the  track  fell  away, 
were  washed  off,  disappeared. 

The  Austrians  were  reported  to  have  laid 


1 8  Russia  in  1916 

the  sleepers  purposely  on  lumps  of  ice. 
When  the  thaw  came  they  floated  ofif.  But 
in  truth  there  was  nothing  much  but  ice 
to  lay  them  on.  The  Canadians,  working 
with  torches  in  the  darkness,  were  said  to 
have  failed  to  fix  the  rails  with  the  right 
balance  on  the  sleepers  and  the  first  engine 
that  passed  over  worked  havoc  with  the 
embankment.  So  they  say  in  Alexan- 
drovsk,  but,  probably,  neither  Austrians  nor 
Canadians  were  to  blame — but  Nature 
simply  had  not  yet  been  conquered,  though 
there  was  a  semblance  of  conquest  at  the  end 
of  the  winter. 

In  the  autumn  of  191 5  Archangel  froze 
unexpectedly  early,  and  vessels  that  could 
not  discharge  there  went  to  Alexandrovsk 
to  wait  for  the  railway.  Ekaterina  was 
packed  with  ships — you  could  almost  step 
from  one  ship  to  another  and  thus  get  across 
from  one  side  of  the  harbour  to  another. 


The  Dark  Haven  19 

And  as  there  were  no  rings  for  the  moorings 
of  the  ships  there  was  a  certain  amount  of 
fear  that  a  storm  might  arise  and  the  ships 
dash  themselves  to  bits  against  one  another. 
But,  as  it  proved,  no  matter  how  fierce  the 
tempest  raged  outside,  this  virginal  harbour 
was  always  placid. 

Towards  Christmas  (one  party  on  Christ- 
mas Eve)  arrived  our  armoured-car  men, 
now  fighting  so  gallantly  with  the  Grand 
Duke  in  Transcaucasia,  telegraphists  who 
erected  the  wireless  stations,  naval  airmen, 
troops.  Men-of-war  guarded  the  harbour. 
In  that  strange  Arctic  refuge,  what  an  as- 
sembly of  British!  They  remained  all  the 
winter  and  thought  this  Russia  they  had 
come  to  the  most  God-forsaken  place  in  the 
world.  Nevertheless,  they  named  the  only 
street  of  Alexandrovsk  'Tall  Mall"  and  at 
their  concerts  they  sang  incessantly  some 
song    about    "Leicester    Square,    Leicester 


20  Russia  in  1916 

Square."  One  might  think  Leicester 
Square  was  really  an  important  place  in  the 
minds  of  Englishmen. 

One  obtains  the  idea  that  it  is  perhaps  the 
Mecca  to  which  the  British  soldier  turns, 
and  some  of  the  Russian  soldiers  who  are 
fighting  "to  put  the  Cross  on  Sancta  Sophia" 
have  a  vague  idea,  hearing  our  armoured- 
car  men  singing,  that  perhaps  we  are  fight- 
ing to  get  back  to  Leicester  Square.  Their 
marching  songs  are  folk-lore  airs  with  na- 
tional words.  A  contrast  to  our  music-hall 
songs  imported  from  America. 

On  English  Old-Year's  night,  which  is  a 
fortnight  before  the  same  date  in  Russia, 
the  men  on  the  ships  decided  to  celebrate 
the  coming  of  the  New  Year  with  festivity. 
The  Russians  ashore  peacefully  slept  and 
the  great  gloomy  clififs  that  close  the  har- 
bour in  were  silent  as  the  grave.  Suddenly 
from  all  the  ships  burst  forth  cries  and  fire- 


The  Dark  Haven  21 

works  and  rockets,  songs,  shoutings.  The 
Russians  ashore  all  wakened  up  and  thought 
the  Germans  had  come. 

This  Ekaterina  is  a  great  sight,  a  most 
beautiful  place,  though  forbidding  and  au- 
stere, a  symmetrical,  flask-shaped  exit  from 
the  Arctic.  In  the  storm  of  driving  mist 
and  snow  it  was  difficult  enough  finding  the 
neck  of  the  flask,  the  way  in;  but  once  in, 
all  was  peace,  though  the  storm  raged  in  the 
heavens  and  in  the  air.  There  were  no 
ships  to  speak  of  in  the  harbour  then,  but  a 
-%God  deal  of  life  on  the  shore,  especially  at 
Semionova. 

A  tatterdemalion  Russian  population, 
some  in  sheepskins,  some  in  Caucasian 
bourkas,  some  in  bowler  hats,  some  in  old 
khaki  overcoats,  and  smoking  pipes — evi- 
dence of  English  influence.  There  were 
engineers  in  leather  jackets  and  with  flannel 
bashleeks  over  their  heads,  workmen  in  felt 


22 


Russia  in  1916 


boots,  many  Circassian  troops  with  their 
rifles  and  in  ragged  uniforms,  men  with 
pale,  severe  faces — they  make  probably  the 
most  terrible  type  of  Russian  troops,  silent, 
faithful,  relentlessly  severe  and  very  power- 
ful, speaking  little  or  no  Russian,  Moham- 
medan by  religion — the  guards  of  the  Aus- 
trian prisoners. 

When  the  railway  is  finished  its  terminus 
will  be  at  Semionova,  and  that  will  prob- 
ably be  the  name  of  the  new  port.  Semio- 
nova is  all  new,  unpainted  wood.  Here 
are  hundreds  of  shanties  and  barracks,  and 
an  indescribable  chaos  of  workmen,  ma- 
terials, and  mud.  Engines  puff  along  the 
shore  on  the  bit  of  railway  which  is  in  work- 
ing order,  and  on  these  engines  the  various 
agents  and  engineers  clamber  to  go  to  the 
place  of  action  where  the  gangs  are  at  work. 

I  fell  in  with  various  queer  people;  a 
speculator  buying  up  land,  a  one-eyed  man 


The  Dark  Haven  23 

with  smoky  glasses  seeking  a  site  on  which 
to  build  a  cinema.  Eight  thousand  roubles, 
would  buy  a  cinema  with  all  fixtures,  in- 
cluding an  electric  piano.  It  was  bound  to 
be  a  success,  he  argued,  for  there  would  be 
no  other  place  to  go  to  in  the  long  black 
winter.  Land  has  been  bought  up  all 
round  the  harbour,  and  by  people  who  have 
never  seen  it — just  for  speculation,  the  curse 
of  modern  life  in  Russia.  And  all  the  time 
whilst  Russian  peasants  and  workmen  are 
slaving  and  dying,  comfortable  commercial 
folk  in  the  south  are  buying  and  selling  the 
prospective  fruits  of  their  labour  and  suf- 
ferings. 

Still,  that  is  the  way  of  the  world,  and 
these  people  pass,  whereas  the  work  re- 
mains. All  the  autumn  and  possibly 
through  the  winter  the  work  goes  on  again 
in  the  continuous  darkness,  with  torches, 
under  the  supervision  of  fur-clad  engineers 


24  Russia  in  1916 

and  grim  Cherkesses.  Many  will  be  the 
sufferings,  though  not  greater  than  the  suf- 
ferings on  the  field  of  battle.  Many  have 
died  and  will  die  in  the  building  and  con- 
summating of  the  Murman  railway.  Still 
the  railway  will  remain  as  a  peaceful  me- 
morial, the  great  new  railway  from  Petro- 
grad  to  the  dark  haven. 


Ill 

THE  NEW  ARCHANGEL 

When  I  last  visited  Archangel,  six  years 
ago,  it  was  a  dreamy,  lifeless,  melancholy 
port.  One  felt  that,  like  its  sister  city, 
Kholmagora,  it  had  once  been  great,  but 
its  greatness  had  finally  set.  You  could  feel 
the  melancholy  of  Russia  there,  the  sadness 
of  material  failure  so  characteristic  of  the 
Russian  soul.  But  to-day!  To-day  the 
vision  has  fled,  the  tempo  has  changed.  All 
the  ships  of  the  world  find  anchorage  in 
her  harbour,  and  motley  crowds  throng  her 
streets.  That  the  war  has  brought  about. 
A  year  before  the  war  fifty  vessels  entered 
Archangel  port.  During  the  last  twelve 
months  something  like  5000  have  entered. 
Great  liners  and  transports  and  weather- 

25 


26  Russia  in  1916 

beaten  tramps  and  three-deck  river  boats 
stand  in  majestic  pride.  Their  smoke  and 
steam  make  a  dome  over  the  city  of  Arch- 
angel when  you  approach  it  from  the  north. 
There  are  Norwegians  and  Yankees,  with 
their  colours  flamboyantly  painted  on  their 
bows  to  warn  the  submarine  off;  Russians 
and  French,  with  their  tricolours  stream- 
ing; but  most  of  all  English  ships,  with 
their  proud  rain-washed  Union  Jacks  lol- 
ling in  the  wind.  I  was  taken  through  the 
whole  harbour  in  a  little,  arrow-like  steam 
launch — from  the  Thames!  How  often  it 
had  shot  under  the  arches  of  our  little 
bridges,  and  now  it  was  puffing  and  panting 
on  the  vast  brown  Dvina,  be-du^arfed  by 
huge  ships,  driven  by  a  Lett  from  Riga,  and 
constantly  going  short  of  steam  and  getting 
becalmed  far  from  either  shore. ^     Besides 

1  Thirteen   lines   excluded   by  British   Censor.     Not  to  be 
published. 


The  New  Archangel  27 

troops,  the  French  are  taking  great  quanti- 
ties of  alcohol  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
high  explosives,  and  I  saw  many  barges 
heaped  up  with  barrels  of  spirit  and  won- 
dered if  there  were  many  leaks.  The  Rus- 
sian manufacture  of  alcohol  has  probably 
not  diminished  as  a  result  of  the  prohibition 
of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  Russia, 
but  has  proved  to  be  a  valuable  war  export. 
This  fact  is  especially  important  to  take  into 
consideration  with  regard  to  Russian  tem- 
perance reform.  When  the  war  is  over 
and  the  market  for  this  alcohol  is  partially 
lost,  will  there  not  be  another  movement  of 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturers? 

I  saw  :?11  manner  of  crates  with  ma- 
chinery, parts  of  aeroplanes,  and  the  like, 
and  British  vessels  discharging  these  things, 
and  I  saw  grain  and  flax  and  timber  going 
on  for  us  from  Russia. 

Go  into  the  chief  restaurant  of  Arch- 


28  Russia  in  1916 

angel,  and  as  like  as  not  all  the  customers 
are  English  captains,  and  they  are  reading 
back  numbers  of  the  Daily  Mail  and  talk- 
ing "ship."  At  the  Cafe  Paris  there  is  a 
''skippers'  table,"  where  they  are  also  cap- 
tains all,  and  the  waitresses  quarrel  as  to 
who  shall  serve  there,  though  none  of  them 
knows  two  words  of  English.  In  the  Alex- 
androvsky  Gardens  you  see  English  sailors 
with  Russian  girls,  and  neither  can  say  a 
word  to  the  other.  Their  only  language  is 
that  of  looks.  One  of  our  men  showed  me 
a  card  with  poetry  written  and  violets 
painted  and  asked  me  to  translate  the  words 
for  him  and  write  an  answer.  It  ran  some- 
thing like  this — 

What  need  for  words  when  without  them  you  are  so 
eloquent  ? 

Why  should  the  lips  move 
When  the  eyes  speak  so  well? 

Sailors  tell  wonderful  stories  of  feminine 


The  New  Archangel  29 

conquests,  and  it  is  evident  the  Russian 
girls  are  partial  to  them.  Even  at  the 
theatre,  in  front  of  you  are  sitting  such  un- 
likely persons  as  a  fireman  and  a  stoker, 
and  one  says  to  the  other  w^ith  disgust,  "I 
can't  understand  a  blooming  word.  Can 
you?"  Some  Englishmen  have  exercise 
books  with  Russian  words  and  phrases 
laboriously  copied  out — an  impossible  lan- 
guage! 

All  is  going  well  in  Archangel.  The 
Russians,  in  spite  of  their  inexperience,  are 
handling  the  immense  quantities  of  mate- 
rials well,  and  the  "stuff"  is  all  steadily 
proceeding  to  the  places  where  it  is  most 
needed.  New  quays  have  been  built,  and 
loops  of  railway  run  along  them,  and  some 
ships,  carrying  nothing  weighing  less  than 
three  tons,  yet  discharge  all  their  immense 
articles  of  cargo  in  considerably  less  time 
than  it  took  to  put  them  on  at  Liverpool 


30  Russia  in  1916 

or  Dundee  or  Newcastle  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  Russians  earn  unheard-of  wages  in 
the  docks,  and  the  rumour  attracts  thou- 
sands of  workers  from  all  parts  of  Russia. 
A  journalist  writing  in  the  Russkoe  Slovo 
in  July  called  it  the  Russian  Klondike. 
All  Russians  who  go  there  are  pleased  with 
it.  The  port  in  its  present  grandeur  is  a 
sort  of  promise  for  Russia,  and  it  flatters 
her  commercial  future. 

I  was  warned  I  should  not  find  a  room 
anywhere  in  the  city,  and  that  people  paid 
five  roubles  a  night  for  the  privilege  of 
sleeping  in  a  passage.  But  I  obtained  a 
clean  room  at  the  Troitsky  Hotel  for  2 
roubles  75  copecks,  which  was  not  dear. 
Notices  in  the  room  were  printed  both 
in  English  and  Russian,  indicating  how 
many  English  visitors  they  have  now. 

I  called  on  my  friend  Alexander  Alex- 
androvitch  Beekof,  the  hunter  and  draper 


The  New  Archangel  31 

whom  I  described  in  ''Undiscovered  Rus- 
sia." He  had  now  opened  a  boot  shop  and 
was  rich,  selling  his  wares  at  three  or  four 
pounds  the  pair.  He  was  proud  of  his 
business  success  and  rejoiced  in  the  inde- 
pendence which  it  gave  him.  He  is  now  a 
member  of  the  Gorodskaya  Duma,  and 
when  a  representative  of  the  city  was 
wanted  to  carry  an  emblem  to  the  Arch- 
angel troops  at  the  front,  Beekof  was 
thought  to  be  the  best.^  He  shared  the 
hardships  of  the  common  soldiers,  and  was 
fain  to  stay  at  the  front,  but  was  mixed  up 
in  the  great  retreat  from  Austria  and  felt 
very  sick  of  everything  before  he  got  back 
to  his  native  city  and  the  bootshop. 

Since  I  was  in  Archangel  last  the  young 
revolutionary  exile  Alexey  Sergeitch,  now 
pardoned  and  married  and  teaching  history 
in  Moscow,  has  brought  out  a  little  book  on 

1  Four  lines  excluded  by  Censor. 


32  ^       Russia  in  1916 

the   Monastery  of   Ci.     I   saw  him   later 
when  I  got  to  Moscow. 

r  was  invited  by  the  town  council  to  par- 
take of  a  glass  of  tea  on  the  occasion  of  the 
opening  of  the  electric  tramway.  All  the 
notables  of  the  town  were  accommodated 
on  board  a  special  steamer,  and  went  slowly 
along  the  Cathedral  pier  a  mile  or  so  to  the 
new  electric  power  station.  Here  priests 
met  us  with  banners  and  ikons  and  holy 
water.  A  service  was  held  in  the  power 
station,  and  the  smell  of  burning  incense 
mingled  strangely  with  the  smell  of  new 
paint  and  oil  and  machinery.  Holy  water 
was  flung  in  all  corners  and  over  our  heads, 
and  then  the  dynamos  were  set  in  motion 
and  the  whole  place  buzzed  and  groaned. 
I  think  Repin,  the  engineer,  proud  of  hav- 
ing constructed  the  most  northern  tramway 
in  the  world,  was  a  little  anxious  lest  the 
holy  water  should  spoil  his  engines. 


The  New  Archangel  33 

But  all  went  well,  and  we  took  our  seats 
in  the  virgin  trams  to  make  the  first  jour- 
ney, all  the  notables  of  the  town  and  with 
them  every  beggar  and  labourer  and  tatter- 
demalion dock-hand  that  could  get  a  foot- 
ing. In  Germany  I  can  imagine  how 
swiftly  these  gentlemen  would  have  been 
dealt  with.  But  in  Russia  "all  is  permit- 
ted" and  we  had  a  joy-ride.  We  went 
cheerfully  along  on  our  parade  journey. 
The  conductresses  in  brand  new  uniforms 
and  shining  metal  clips  and  punches  stood 
with  their  money  bags  and  their  full  rolls 
of  tickets.  Directly  following  our  trip  to 
the  Town  Hall  the  cars  were  open  to  the 
public,  and  fares  would  be  collected.  Car 
after  car  drew  up  and  we  stepped  out  and 
walked  up  the  stone  stairs  to  the  long  tables 
and  the  glasses  of  tea  and  the  proud  speeches 
of  the  great  men  of  Archangel. 

Now  the  trams  are  in  full  operation,  and 


34  Russia  In  J 916 

bring  in  about  £i,ooo  a  week.  Archangel 
is  united,  and  friends  within  the  city  have 
become  nearer.  All  day  the  trams  carry 
passengers,  and  all  night  they  carry  goods, 
so  I  am  told. 

As  I  write  of  this  now  in  the  winter  after 
I  have  come  back  to  London,  I  imagine  that 
probably  now  all  is  frozen  over  again. 
The  brown  river  became  white,  and  within 
twenty-four  hours  you  could  drive  a  horse 
and  cart  over  it.  It  did  not  melt  again  till 
the  spring.  Captains  and  their  crews 
thinking  of  leaving  in  a  few  days  and  grum- 
bling because  of  small  delays  as  they  always 
do  grumble,  were  suddenly  condemned  to 
remain  idle  for  months;  their  ships,  dotted 
here,  there,  and  everywhere  in  the  ice,  had  a 
processional  aspect,  and  looked  as  if  they 
were  sailing  out  and  yet  never  getting  for- 
ward. The  men  cut  pine  branches  and 
made  avenues  from  their  ships  to  the  shores, 


The  New  Archangel  35 

well-trodden  roads  with  names.  There 
was  "Broadway"  leading  to  a  big  American 

ship,   and   K Avenue   leading  to   the 

K ,  and  R Avenue  leading  to  the 

R .     I  may  not  mention  the  name  of 

any  British  ship,  but  the  detail  has  a  pic- 
turesqueness  which  is  worth  noting.  The 
Russian  Government  paid  the  owners  of 
these  boats  hundreds  of  thousands  of  roubles 
damages  for  this  unexpected  incursion  of 
Jack  Frost.  It  was  highly  unprofitable  to 
Russia,  but  every  one  made  the  best  of  it 
and  no  one  grumbled. 

The  happy  co-operation  of  the  Russians 
and  the  English  shows  to  advantage  in 
Archangel.  Russians  and  English  like  one 
another  and  get  on  well  together  there, 
though  the  souls  of  the  common  people  are 
so  different  and  Russian  ways  so  different 
from  our  own. 


IV 

THE  COST  OF  LIVING 

Each  time  returning  to  Moscow  I  notice 
change.  Last  year  after  the  riots  it  was  a 
city  of  broken  windows  and  more  or  less 
empty  streets.  This  summer  I  found  the 
life  patched  up  and  the  windows  more  or 
less  repaired.  There  were  more  people; 
there  was  an  obvious  prosperity  of  a  kind, 
among  the  shopkeeping  class.  Every  one 
talked  of  the  dearness  of  living  and  yet 
every  one  had  more  money  wherewith  to 
buy.  And  all  shops  were  thriving.  Many 
shops  with  German  names  have  now  put 
up  a  notice  to  the  effect  that  the  owners 
are  Russian.  Not  that  the  German  shops 
which  were  sacked  in  July,  1914  have  re- 

36 


The  Cost  of  Living  37 

covered.  Einem,  the  great  confectioner, 
with  all  his  branches  seems  to  have  sold  his 
retail  business.  The  first-rate  art  shop  and 
publishing  house  of  Knebel  &  Grossman  has 
had  to  obtain  a  Government  loan  in  order 
to  make  a  start  again  and  supply  the  schools, 
but  most  precious  negatives  and  blocks  and 
originals  perished,  and  it  will  be  a  long 
time  before  the  firm  can  make  up  for  what 
was  lost.  Many  new  cafes  and  places  of 
amusement  have  been  opened,  testifying  to 
the  money  in  people's  pockets.  Rich  fugi- 
tives from  the  districts  conquered  by  the 
Germans  and  Austrians  seem  to  have 
started  businesses  in  Moscow  and  have  im- 
parted to  it  a  tinge  of  the  complexion  of 
Warsaw — part  of  the  extra  gaiety  of  War- 
saw seems  to  have  arrived  one  notices  such 
new  names  as  that  of  the  Piccadilly  Cafe 
opposite  Phillipofs. 

Apart  from  that  street  gaiety,  however. 


38  Russia  in  1916 

there  is  sufficient  sadness  and  anxiety  in  the 
background.  As  in  England  and  France, 
every  family  has  its  personal  stake  in  the 
war,  and  for  many  that  stake  has  become  the 
wooden  cross  over  a  grave.  Young  and 
splendid  regiments  are  still  to  be  seen 
marching,  however,  and  to  look  at  them  in 
their  new  uniforms  one  might  think  for  a 
moment  that  it  was  only  the  beginning, 
Russia  was  entering  the  war,  and  no  one  had 
yet  been  lost. 

There  is  engaging  enthusiasm  still,  and 
withal  the  noted  Slav  patience  that  does  not 
ask  for  things  to  be  done  quickly.  A  slow 
war  in  many  respects  suits  the  Russian  tem- 
perament. The  most  characteristic  thing 
in  Russia  is  the  waiting:  waiting  hours  for 
your  ticket  at  the  booking-office,  waiting 
hours  for  Chinovniks,  waiting  for  one's 
money  at  the  bank,  waiting  for  a  turn  to  buy 
a  seat  for  next  week's  performance  at  the 


The  Cost  of  Living  39 

theatre,  whole  days  if  Shaliapin  be  going 
to  sing.  And  now  they  are  waiting  with 
their  accustomed  cheeriness  and  patience. 

Certainly  they  have  their  hardships,  those 
who  dwell  in  the  background.  They  have 
plenty  of  subjects  for  grumbling  and  com- 
plaints. Their  talk  is  all  of  the  terrible 
dorogovizna.  The  pretty  word  dorogov- 
izna  means  dearness  of  living,  and  it  is  the 
commonest  in  the  townsman's  vocabulary 
this  season  of  the  war.  The  price  of  nearly 
every  commodity  in  Russia  has  doubled  or 
trebled  since  the  outbreak  of  war.  One 
would  expect  the  price  of  manufactured 
goods  to  rise  there;  but  the  surprising 
phenomenon  is  that,  despite  the  overwhelm- 
ing abundance  of  foodstuffs  in  Russia  and 
Russia's  inability  to  export  any  •  of  that 
abundance,  food  has  become,  on  the  whole, 
dearer  than  in  Berlin.  The  Russian  Word 
has  a  long  list  of  comparative  prices,  show- 


40  Russia  in  1916 

ing  that  out  of  sixteen  common  articles  of 
food  ten  have  increased  more  in  price  in 
Moscow  than  in  Germany.  The  price  of 
mutton  has  increased  i8o  per  cent,  in  Ber- 
lin, but  it  has  increased  281  per  cent,  in 
Moscow;  pork  114  per  cent,  in  Berlin,  142 
per  cent,  in  Moscow;  white  bread  27  per 
cent,  in  Berlin,  45  per  cent,  in  Moscow; 
sugar,  27  per  cent,  in  Berlin,  57  per  cent,  in 
Moscow,  and  so  forth.  Sugar  has  in  many 
districts  disappeared  entirely,  and  shop 
windows  exhibit  the  notice  "No  sugar  what- 
ever," which  means  not  even  the  dirty 
brown  soft  sugar  which  has  displaced  the 
rajinade.  At  Archangel  there  is  a  fixed 
allowance  of  i  lb.  of  sugar  per  person 
per  month,  and  that  is  only  accessible  for 
settled  inhabitants.  As  a  visitor  I  was 
lucky  to  purchase  twenty-four  lumps  at  a 
halfpenny  a  lump.  At  the  railway  stations 
at  many  bufifets  you  are  ofifered  sugar  candy 


The  Cost  of  Living  41 

or  raspberry  drops  with  your  tea,  or  a 
wrapped  caramel  with  your  coffee.  In 
cases  where  they  have  sugar  the  waiters 
have  the  audacity  to  put  it  in  for  you,  lest 
you  should  secrete  what  you  did  not  want. 
Now  cards  have  been  introduced  for  sugar 
almost  everywhere,  even  in  the  villages. 
The  possession  of  a  card  entitles  you  to  pur- 
chase the  article  specified  on  it.  At  first 
receiving  the  food  card  the  heart  rejoices. 
But  it  is  one  thing  to  possess  a  card  and  an- 
other to  find  a  grocer  who  has  anything  to 
sell.  If  we  introduce  cards  in  England  we 
shall  probably  experience  the  same  anom- 
aly, though  we  have  certainly  more  gift  for 
organisation  than  the  Russians.  For  food 
tickets  to  be  a  success  an  extraordinary  thor- 
oughness in  administration  is  necessary  and 
also  a  good  social  conscientiousness  on  the 
part  of  individuals. 
When    the   blue    food   cards   were    dis- 


42  Russia  in  1916 

tributed  in  one  village  a  rumour  spread  that 
the  Anti-Christ  had  arrived  in  Russia  and 
v^as  giving  these  out.  It  is  said  that  one  in- 
habitant of  foreign  origin  bought  up  all  the 
cards  from  the  peasants  at  a  low  price,  and 
they  now  contentedly  buy  their  provisions 
from  him  when  he  has  them. 

Meat  has  so  risen  in  price  that  through- 
out all  Russia  four  meatless  days  have  been 
proclaimed,  and  on  Tuesday,  Wednesday, 
Thursday,  and  Friday  you  must  keep  to 
vegetables,  fish,  or  fowls.  On  these  days 
no  meat  may  be  sold  and  no  cattle  may  be 
slaughtered.  The  meat  may  not  be  sold  in 
a  smoked  state  nor  as  sausage.  When  this 
measure  was  introduced  the  butchers 
wailed,  if  the  cows  and  the  calves  rejoiced. 
The  chickens  suffered  for  it.  But  ask  a 
Russian,  and  he  will  tell  you  all  suffer  for 
it.  The  price  of  vegetables  has  risen,  the 
price  of  meat  on  the  days  when  you  buy  it 


The  Cost  of  Living  43 

has  risen,  the  price  of  fish  and  fowl  has 
risen.  One  day  at  the  National  Hotel  in 
Moscow  I  noticed  cauliflowers  standing  at 
the  superb  price  of  3  roubles,  50  copecks, 
about  5j. 

From  scores  of  districts  in  Russia  peti- 
tions have  been  sent  to  Petrograd — Cancel 
the  regulations  as  to  meatless  days.  But 
the  regulations  are  not  likely  to  be  can- 
celled. At  the  restaurants  such  small  por- 
tions are  given  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  a 
good  meal  even  at  large  expense.  And  the 
soups  which  are  made  without  meat  are  the 
same  price  as  they  used  to  be  when  meat  was 
allowed.  It  seems  that  if  meatless  days  are 
to  be  introduced  in  Britain  it  will  not  be 
merely  one  a  week  for  it  is  always  possible 
to  buy  meat  for  two  days.  They  should  be 
for  three  or  four  days  a  week  as  in  Russia. 
But  phenomena  similar  to  those  I  noted  will 
be  repeated  with  us.     Vegetables  will  rise 


44  Russia  in  1916 

rapidly  in  price  as  a  result  of  meatless  days. 
Sugar  has  disappeared  because  the  Ger- 
mans and  Austrians  are  in  possession  of 
some  of  the  richest  beetroot  country  of  Rus- 
sia, and  also  of  several  sugar  factories. 
Coffee  is  scarce  because  there  is  war  with 
Turkey;  butter  and  eggs  because  the  pea- 
sants, being  unable  to  obtain  vodka,  have 
no  particular  use  for  extra  cash,  and  won't 
sell  their  products.  Speculators  are  hold- 
ing large  quantities  of  provisions  in  ice- 
houses and  waiting  till  the  prices  are  pushed 
higher  and  higher.  The  banks  are  holding 
quantities  of  sugar.  There  are  many  ex- 
planations. 

In  one  window  in  Moscow  is  exhibited 
a  notice,  "Soap  is  received  daily  and  is  sold 
in  lumps  of  not  less  than  lo  lb.  up  to  lo 
A.  M.";  in  other  windows  is  the  notice,  "No 
soap,"  and  one  involuntarily  recalls  that 
piece  of  nonsense — 


The  Cost  of  Living  4^ 

A  great  she-bear  passing  down  the  street.     What,  no 
soap;  and  so  she  married  the  barber, 

in  which  some  Mrs.  Gallop  might  read  an 
occult  reference  to  the  Russia  of  these  days. 
Boots  have  become  difficult  to  buy.  Ex- 
isting supplies  are  nearly  exhausted.  In 
a  boot-shop  window  in  Moscow  one  pair  of 
boots  exhibited — the  last.  Second-hand 
boots  are  valuable.  Boot  thieves  have  ap- 
peared in  the  hotels,  and  a  new  notice  has 
appeared  in  your  room,  ''You  are  requested 
not  to  put  your  boots  out  at  night."  My 
friend  Beekof,  of  Archangel,  made  a  huge 
pile  of  money  selling  boots.  I  met  him 
lately  in  Moscow  where  he  has  been  pur- 
chasing expensive  works  of  art,  and  even 
thinks  of  buying  an  original  Levitan. 
Boots  are  too  expensive  to  buy.  They  say 
plaited  birchbark  or  lime-bark  boots,  which 
used  to  be  sold  for  2d.  a  pair  in  the  coun- 
try,   now    fetch    5^.     Peasants    are    sitting 


46  Russia  in  1916 

plaiting  boots  on  suburban  stations  and  sell- 
ing them  as  fast  as  they  make  them.  Re- 
pairs are  so  expensive  that  a  parlourmaid 
spent  a  month's  wages  on  having  her  boots 
mended.  Happily  the  town  councils  have 
fixed  a  tariff  in  Moscow  and  Petrograd  at 
last,  both  for  boots  and  for  repairs. 

Russian  houses  are  heated  with  wood,  and 
strange  to  say,  in  the  midst  of  her  enor- 
mous forests  she  is  short  of  wood.  Wood 
has  doubled  and  trebled  in  price.  The 
poor  people  must  freeze.  There  are  not 
working  hands  to  cut  wood — so  many  hav- 
ing been  taken  for  more  profitable  occupa- 
tions. I  have  been  asked  a  shilling  for  a 
packet  of  rubbishy  envelopes.  Paper  is 
very  dear — some  of  the  best  Russian  paper 
mills  are  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  All 
metal  articles  are  expensive.  A  decent 
samovar  costs  50  to  60  roubles.  There  is 
said  to  be  famine  in  medicine,  and  the  chem- 


The  Cost  of  Living  47 

ists'  supplies  are  short.  Certainly  the  Rus- 
sians seem  to  be  enjoying  better  health  on 
the  whole. 

They  say  all  is  going  to  be  regulated. 
The  Government  is  going  to  take  charge 
of  the  whole  business  of  supply  and  there 
will  be  cards  for  everything,  and  you  must 
call  at  the  grocer  and  present  your  card. 
Once  more  calls  and  cards,  and  cards  and 
calls.  But  our  Russian  friends  are  the  most 
unpractical  people.  You  see  every  day  in 
Moscow  queues  a  street  long,  waiting  hours 
with  cards  in  their  hands,  waiting  for  a 
pound  or  so  of  sugar.  Such  queues  turned 
up  at  the  butchers'  shops  on  the  mornings  of 
the  meat  days  that  the  butchers  decided  to 
issue  tickets  the  day  beforehand — on  each 
ticket  a  number  designating  your  turn  to  buy 
meat  on  the  morrow.  Thus  recently  2,000 
waited  on  Arbat  from  4  P.  M.  to  midnight 
for  a  ticket  for  a  turn  next  day.     The  vege- 


48  Russia  in  1916 

tarian  propagandist  turns  up  to  look  at  their 
solemn  faces.  "Is  it  worth  it?"  he  asks. 
Happy  vegetarians! 

"But  you  know  if  I  don't  get  meat  my 
stomach  will  go  wrong,"  says  a  Russian 
plaintively. 

"What  is  tea  without  sugar?"  says  an- 
other.    "And  what  is  life  without  tea?" 

Another  comes  to  the  doctor  and  says, 
"Prescribe,  if  you  please.  I've  lost  my 
appetite.     I  can't  eat." 

And  the  doctor  replies,  like  that  friend  of 
Carlyle— 

"My  dear  fellow,  it  isn't  of  the  slightest 
consequence." 

"The  Army  has  meat,  tea,  sugar,  white 
bread?" 

"Yes,  the  Army  has  all  these  in  plenty." 

"Slava  Tebye  Gospody!  That's  all 
right" 


V 

LIFE  IN  THE  COUNTRY 

From  Moscow  I  journeyed  to  see  some 
friends  of  the  artist  Pereplotchikof,  the  E. 
family,  on  a  small  estate  in  the  Government 
of  Voronezh.  At  the  small  wayside  sta- 
tion an  unfamiliar  figure  greeted  me — this 
was  an  Austrian  prisoner,  a  Hungarian 
who  could  not  speak  a  word  of  Russian. 
He  was  the  new  coachman,  and  would  drive 
me  the  ten  miles  to  the  farm.  The  former 
coachman  has  gone  to  the  war,  and  so  now 
an  Austrian  prisoner,  in  the  same  uniform 
in  which  he  surrendered  and  wearing  the 
familiar  high  military  hat,  is  doing  his 
work.  He  carried  my  bags  from  the  sta- 
tion, for  there  was  no  porter,  and  put  them 

49 


50  Russia  in  1916 

in  the  carriage,  and  then  drove  me  on 
through  verdant  forest  and  along  the  ter- 
rible road  deep  in  liquid  mud  and  water. 

A  great  feature  of  the  new  country  life  in 
Russia  is  the  Austrian  prisoners  at  work. 
One  seldom  comes  across  any  Germans. 
But  of  Austrians  there  are  great  numhers. 
They  volunteer  to  go  out  to  work,  rather 
than  remain  in  the  internment  camps.  In 
order  to  obtain  Austrian  prisoners  to  work 
on  an  estate  you  apply  to  the  government 
town,  and  they  are  hired  out  to  you  at  eight 
roubles  a  month,  four  roubles  of  which  are 
allowed  to  be  deducted  for  keep.  It  turns 
out  that  on  the  whole  the  prisoners  work 
merely  for  board  and  lodging  and  what 
would  keep  an  ordinary  smoker  in  tobacco. 
Prisoner  labour  is  altogether  cheaper  than 
that  of  ordinary  Russian  labourers.  So  if 
you  can  get  a  strong  detachment  of  prisoners 
on  your  estate  you  are  somewhat  advan- 


Life  in  the  Country  <^1 

tageously  circumstanced.  No  guards,  how- 
ever, are  supplied  with  the  prisoners,  and 
you  are  held  responsible  for  them  in  case 
they  attempt  to  escape.  The  prisoners 
on  the  land  are  generally  those  who  were 
agriculturists  in  their  native  Austria  and 
they  are  highly  serviceable.  They  do  not 
take  their  new  duties  too  seriously,  but  all 
the  same  do  more  work  than  the  average 
hired  Russian  labourer  would  do.  To 
work  is  more  pleasant  to  them  than  to  sit 
together  and  talk  or  sing,  and  their  indus- 
trious habits  are  a  matter  of  pleasant  sur- 
prise for  their  employers. 

On  Mme.  E.'s  estate  the  prisoners  were 
Hungarians.  She  knew  no  Hungarian, 
they  no  Russian,  and  no  grammars  or  dic- 
tionaries of  the  Hungarian  language  were 
obtainable  in  Moscow  or  Petrograd — the 
only  aid  to  learning  the  language  which 
Mme.  E.  was  able  to  obtain  was  an  officer's 


52  Russia  in  1916 

war  guide  containing  maps,  geographical 
details,  and  five  or  six  pages  of  military 
phrases  with  translations.  Even  so,  good 
progress  was  being  rapidly  made  in  mutual 
understanding.  These  Hungarians  will 
carry  back  to  their  own  country  many 
funny-sounding  Russian  words,  and  on  the 
other  hand  some  Hungarian  expressions 
may  remain  locally. 

Certainly  the  prisoners  are  of  great  eco- 
nomic aid  to  Russia.  Each  Austrian 
captured  is  not  only  one  Austrian  less  in  the 
enemy  ranks,  but  one  harvester  more  to  take 
in  the  precious  grain.  The  Russian  women, 
the  old  men  and  the  children,  seem  to  be  ifl? 
sufliuient  to  keep  up  the  present  extent  of 
cultivation  and  to  reap  the  harvest — the  la- 
bour of  the  prisoners  makes  up  the  de- 
ficiency. 

In   many   respects   the   prisoner  of   this 
foreign  element  in   the  midst  of   Russian 


Life  in  the  Country  ^3 

country  life  is  sufficiently  objectionable 
from  the  Russian  point  of  view.  There 
are  said  to  have  been  a  jidHfecr  of  mar- 
riages, though  the  difference  in  religion 
must  have  precluded  the  possibility  of  legal 
marriage  in  most  cases  where  it  may  have 
been  desired. 

There  is  a  cloud  over  the  village,  and  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  war  is  popular 
among  the  women.  They  want  the  men 
back;  the  wives  want  their  husbands,  the 
girls  want  their  sweethearts.  Girls  of  six- 
teen, seventeen,  eighteen,  and  nineteen  are 
persistently  gloomy.  They  feel  that  time  is 
slipping  past  without  bringing  the  neces- 
sary bridegroom.  They  should  have  been 
betrothed  and  married  by  now.  Nine- 
teen is  a  dreadful  age  for  an  unmarried 
girl — she  feels  herself  already  an  old  maid, 
and  is  disinclined  to  tell  her  age.  Pretty 
Tania  the  serving-maid  does  not  look  so 


54  Russia  in  1916 

pretty  this  year;  she  has  let  the  fact  that  she 
is  eighteen  prey  upon  her  mind.  She 
knows  that  when  the  boys  come  back  they 
will  not  look  at  any  one  so  old  as  she,  and 
she  will  be  left. 

On  festival  nights  there  is  the  same  sing- 
ing in  the  village  street,  the  parade  of  vil- 
lage fashions,  but  somehow  it  is  rather 
meaningless  since  there  are  no  male  partners 
and  no  weddings  can  be  arranged.  Letters 
of  course  go  to  and  fro  between  the  Army 
and  the  village,  but  the  soldier  does  not 
write  to  *'his  sweetheart,"  or  if  he  does  it  is 
because  his  sweetheart  is  his  wife.  For 
long  engagements  do  not  take  place  in  the 
country.  Queer  letters  the  soldiers  send 
back,  full  of  greetings  to  neighbours  and 
relatives,  and  containing  little  or  nothing 
about  the  war.  There  is  never  any  need  to 
censor  them.  The  peasant  wives  bring 
their  letters  to  Mme.  E.  and  she  reads  them 


Life  in  the  Country  55 

aloud.  Or  they  come  to  her  when  they 
want  to  write  their  letters,  for  though  most 
of  the  men  can  read  and  write,  the  women 
seldom  are  able. 

My  hostess  was  delightful  with  the  peas- 
ants. She  has  taught  among  them,  nursed 
them,  cared  for  them,  and  understands  their 
souls.  She  sits  with  pen  and  paper  on  the 
sunny  verandah  of  the  big  sunny  house  and 
writes  at  dictation  whilst  the  peasant  wife, 
with  her  hands  dangling  at  her  side,  maun- 
ders on  about  the  cow,  the  hole  in  the  roof 
which  needs  mending,  the  state  of  the  crops, 
little  Willie's  health,  the  amount  of  work 
these  Austrian  prisoners  do,  and  so  on. 
She  puts  down  literally  what  the  baba 
says,  as  if  she  were  doing  an  exercise  in 
phonetics,  and  never  corrects  a  word  or  a 
wrong  expression  or  a  grammatical  error. 
The  consequence  is  that  the  soldiers  at  the 
other  end  actually  hear  their  wives  speak- 


^6  Russia  in  1916 

ing  to  them,  and  highly  appreciate  it.  The 
letters  which  Mme.  E.  writes  for  the  wives 
are  the  best. 

Still,  letters  are  makeshift  ways  of  talk- 
ing to  one's  nearest,  and  it  is  a  great  day 
in  the  village  when  a  soldier  actually  re- 
turns, a  wounded  man  invalided  back  or  a 
man  with  some  sort  of  message.  Alas,  Rus- 
sian troops  get  very  little  "leave"  whilst 
they  are  well.  It  often  happens  that  from 
the  day  of  mobilisation  to  the  peace  day 
when  the  men  come  home,  nothing  is  seen 
or  heard  of  the  common  soldier — especially 
when  he  cannot  write.  Lists  of  casualties 
in  the  ranks  are  not  published,  and  the  vil- 
lage has  to  wait  patiently  to  know  whom  it 
has  lost  and  who  are  saved.  More  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  officers,  even  to  ensigns,  and 
I  met  down  here  in  Voronezh  Province  a 
private  who  had  been  sent  from  the  front 
to  convey  to  the  home  people  the  decora- 


Life  in  the  Country  57 

tions  and  last  tidings  of  a  young  ensign  who 
had  perished  leading  his  men.  This  officer 
had  been  greatly  beloved  by  the  soldiers — 
they  rushed  to  him  when  he  fell,  and  he 
seemed  merely  to  be  asleep.  But  one  bul- 
let had  gone  through  his  mouth  and  two 
through  his  skull.  He  was  given  the  Cross 
of  St.  George  after  his  death,  and  a  soldier 
was  detached  to  carry  the  last  honours  home 
and  tell  the  tale  of  his  death.  Incidentally 
the  soldier  brought  to  the  village  his  story 
of  the  war. 

A  rainy  summer  in  the  village.  In  many 
places  the  priests  prayed  for  the  rain  to 
stop.  The  hay  rotted  where  it  lay,  and 
could  not  be  taken  in,  but  the  wheat  and  the 
rye  were  good  everjrvvhere.  And  the  fruit 
harvest  was  good.  Some  one  made  a  hand- 
some profit  on  apples,  since  the  common 
price  in  Moscow  was  threepence  or  four- 
pence  apiece.     Despite  the  dearth  of  sugar, 


58  Russia  in  1916 

jam-making  was  carried  on  in  the  country 
to  an  even  greater  extent  than  usual.  Peo- 
ple felt  that  it  was  a  good  way  to  save  sugar 
for  the  winter,  to  put  it  into  jam.  Russian 
jam  is  much  sweeter  than  ours,  and  is  often 
put  in  tea  as  a  syrup.  It  is  never  spread 
on  bread  and  butter.  Mme.  E.  obtained 
several  sacks  of  soft  sugar,  about  three  hun- 
dredweight in  all,  and  the  half  of  that  she 
used  for  making  jam. 

The  orchard's  fruit,  however,  had  been 
sold  in  advance  in  the  spring.  An  Ar- 
menian had  come,  considered  the  blossom, 
and  offered  a  price  which  was  accepted. 
He  had  made  a  good  speculation  as  it 
turned  out,  and  he  put  a  watchman  in 
among  the  trees  with  a  dog  to  see  that 
nothing  was  stolen.  The  watchman  was 
one  of  the  unfortunate  refugees  from  the 
territory  now  occupied  by  the  Germans. 
Two  years  ago  he  had  been  a  prosperous 


Life  in  the  Country  59 

farmer  with  his  own  land  and  horses  and 
cows  and  what  not,  now  he  is  a  miserable 
half-savage  in  sheepskins  lying  in  a  rain- 
soaked  straw  shelter  in  the  orchard — sans 
land,  sans  wife,  sans  everything.  A  Roman 
Catholic  he,  but  he  went  to  the  Orthodox 
Church  on  Sunday,  as  did  also  the  Hun- 
garian prisoners,  for  they  said  in  their  halt- 
ing way  what  it  is  difficult  for  the  more 
prosperous  to  understand,  that  Bog  odin, 
God  is  One,  and  that  if  there  be  no  Catholic 
church  by,  it  is  as  easy  to  pray  to  God  in 
the  church  that  there  is. 


vr 

FATHER  YEVGENY 

The  faces  in  the  passing  crowd  are  always 
somewhat  of  an  enigma.  There  are  so 
many  that  we  do  not  know,  each  with  his 
own  wide  story,  which,  however,  does  not 
touch  our  story.  One  is  tempted  to  go  up 
and  place  the  hand  in  the  slight!)  unwilling 
and  doubtful  hand  of  the  stranger  and  say, 
"I  know  you,  do  I  not?"  And  it  is  always 
somewhat  of  a  miracle  if  in  the  midst  of  the 
sea  of  faces  there  suddenly  turns  up  the  fa- 
miliar face.  There  happened  to  me  when 
I  returned  to  Moscow  after  my  stay  at 
Mme.  E.'s  a  miracle  of  this  kind.  I  met 
one  of  my  pilgrims  again,  one  of  those  I  ac- 
companied   to   Jerusalem    five   years    ago, 

60 


Father  Yevgeny  6i 

whom  I  did  not  expect  to  see  again — the 
aged  hermit  Yevgeny. 

I  passed  and  repassed  him  twice,  and  he 
for  his  part  stopped  and  seemed  to  be 
vaguely  wondering  what  he  should  do  next. 
'Twas  outside  the  Yaroslavsky  station,  and 
I  was  hurrying  to  catch  a  suburban  train  to 
visit  some  friends.  There  was  a  great  swirl 
of  traffic,  and  many  trams  were  circling  and 
groaning,  emptying  and  receiving  passen- 
gers. 

"Father  Yevgeny,"  said  I.  "Do  you  not 
recognise  me?" 

He  seemed  taken  aback,  and  shrank  rather 
giif  the  devil  had  taken  a  new  form  to  tempt 
him.  I  recalled  that  he  was  considerably 
troubled  by  the  devil. 

"We  met  at  Jerusalem,  did  we  not?"  said 
I.  "Don't  you  remember,  we  used  to  read 
the  Bible  together  in  the  mornings?" 

Then  he  recognised  me,  and  a  bright  and 


62  Russia  in  1916 

happy  smile  transfigured  his  pallid,  wrin- 
kled cheeks  and  sunken  eyes. 

He  lifted  up  his  bent  shoulders  and  kissed 
me,  first  on  one  cheek,  then  on  the  other, 
and  proclaimed  in  a  loud  voice,  "God  has 
done  this.  It  is  a  miracle.  He  meant  that 
we  should  meet  again.  But  how  changed 
you  are!  You  have  grown  taller.  Yes,  it  is 
you.  But  it  is  a  miracle.  God  has  done 
it." 

We  were  a  strange  contrast.  I  in  a  light 
summer  suit  and  wearing  a  straw  hat;  he, 
in  any  case  a  remarkable  figure,  tall  though 
drooping,  with  yellowish-white  ancient 
locks  and  toothless  gums.  Several  people 
stopped  to  look  at  us,  and  some  approached 
more  closely  to  hear  what  we  were  talking 
about.  The  representatives  of  two  con- 
trary worlds  seemed  to  have  met,  for  I 
clearly  belonged  to  that  gay,  worldly,  com- 
mercial Moscow  which  is  so  out  of  touch 


Father  Yevgeny  63 

with  Holy  Russia,  and  the  monk  was  one  of 
those  forbidding  figures  one  would  not  ex- 
pect to  smile  and  be  demonstrative  in  the 
public  street. 

I  wrote  him  my  address,  and  he  promised 
to  come  to  me  on  the  morrow.  I  then  sped 
on  to  catch  the  train,  my  heart  full  of  de- 
light at  this  surprising  meeting,  this  true 
miracle  to  which  the  bright  Sunday  had 
given  birth. 

Next  day  Yevgeny  came  to  the  hotel  at 
which  I  was  staying  and  asked  for  me.  He 
had  put  on  for  the  occasion  an  old  straw 
hat  and  over  it  a  surprisingly  old  and  dirty 
Egyptian  sun-helmet.  In  his  hand  he  bore 
a  tall  cypress  stafif  with  a  cross  on  the  top,  a 
true  palmer's  stafif,  but  a  rare  enough  sight 
in  Moscow. 

The  porter  of  the  hotel  is  artificially  made 
fat  like  a  swell  coachman,  and  he  wears 
in  his  hat  a  circle  of  tips  of  peacock-feathers 


64  Russia  in  1916 

which  make  him  look  very  grand.  It  is  his 
business  to  know  every  one  who  goes  in  and 
out  of  the  great  hotel.  Probably  for  the 
first  time  in  his  experience  a  monk  made  to 
enter  the  establishment.  Father  Yevgeny 
and  he — again  two  worlds  confronting  one 
another. 

"No.  214  on  the  second  floor,"  said  the  re- 
spectful man  in  charge  of  keys  and  corre- 
spondence. 

''This  way!"  said  a  small  boy,  pointing  to 
the  lift. 

But  old  Yevgeny  had  never  been  on  a  lift 
in  his  life. 

''My  sinful  old  legs  will  carry  me  up," 
said  he — he  mounted  the  many  stretches  of 
broad  carpeted  stairway  to  the  second  floor, 
which  is  really  the  third.  There  was  a 
timid  knock  at  my  door,  and  my  visitor  had 
arrived. 

"Father  Yevgeny!"  I  cried. 


Father  Yevgeny  65 

I  showed  him  his  portrait  in  my  book, 
and  translated  aloud  the  chapter  written 
there  about  him.  He  seemed  to  be  ex- 
tremely pleased.  We  considered  the  por- 
traits of  the  other  pilgrims  in  turn. 
Abraham,  who  had  been  twenty  times  to 
Jerusalem,  was  of  a  Cossack  family.  The 
man  carrying  the  lantern  designed  for  the 
holy  fire  was  now  dead.  The  priest  stand- 
ing beside  the  dead  pilgrim  in  the  picture 
was  now  at  Troitskaya  Lavra.  I  made  Fa- 
ther Yevgeny  a  present  of  the  volume,  and 
he  bade  me  write  in  it  in  Russian,  ''To  the 
hermit  Yevgeny  of  Mount  Athos." 

"How  is  it  you  come  to  be  in  Moscow  and 
not  at  Mount  Athos?"  I  asked. 

"The  war  prevented  me.  I  had  come 
back  to  Russia  to  visit  my  native  village  be- 
fore I  died,  and  wbils?t  I  v/as  here  the  war 
broke  out.  I  was  hastening  back,  but  our 
Moscow  Metropolite  put  his  hand  on  my 


66  Russia  in  1916 

head  one  Sunday  after  morning  service  and 
said,  'Thou  art  thinking  of  going  to  Afon — 
wait,  do  not  go.'  Then  war  with  Turkey 
commenced,  and  the  way  was  stopped. 
Good  Father  Philaret  of  the  Bogoyavlen- 
sky  Monastery  gave  me  shelter,  and  that  is 
where  I  am  living  now." 

He  recounted  how,  when  the  war  broke 
out,  he  had  a  vision.  He  looked  up  into 
the  sky,  and  it  was  filled  with  little  white 
clouds  hurrying  southward.  He  was  mis- 
taken in  thinking  them  clouds;  he  saw  later 
that  they  were  in  fact  the  hosts  of  the  an- 
gels ranging  themselves  on  the  side  of  Ser- 
bia to  save  her  from  the  Austrians. 

Yevgeny  and  I  spent  the  whole  day  to- 
gether. In  the  evening  I  had  to  leave  Mos- 
cow, and  he  saw  me  ofif  at  the  station.  He 
talked  a  great  deal  about  his  visions.  For 
instance,  he  had  seen  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.     One  sunny  afternoon  in  the  mon- 


Father  Yevgeny  67 

astery  yard  he  fell  into  a  trance,  and  in  the 
trance  he  saw  what  he  had  wanted  to  see  all 
his  life — a  vision  of  the  Kingdom.  "There 
are  really  four  heavens,"  said  he.  "The 
first  is  so  splendid,  so  full  of  light,  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  look  at  it;  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  light  sit  the  Holy  Trinity. 
Round  and  round  them  all  the  while  and 
for  ever  the  cherubs  keep  moving  and  they 
sing  oi-oi-oi-ei-ei-ei-ai-ai-ai  .  .  .  and  never 
cease  for  a  moment.  In  the  second  heaven 
I  saw  the  apostles  and  the  prophets.  In  the 
third  heaven  w^re  the  holy  ugodniki,  and 
in  the  fourth  were  a  great  crowd  of  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men  and  women  all  in 
white.  There  were  many,  many  of  our 
Russians  there — I  was  so  glad,  so  full  of 
joy  that  I  went.  And  then  suddenly  it  all 
vanished,  and  I  found  myself  in  the  monas- 
tery yard  and  on  my  knees,  and  my  hands 
were  on  the  white  head  of  an  old,  old  pil- 


68  Russia  in  1916 

grim  woman.     I  asked  her  if  she  had  seen 
anything,  but  she  had  seen  nothing." 

I  asked  Father  Yevgeny  about  the  Mount 
Athos  heresy,  and  the  Name-of-Godites,  as 
the  heretics  were  irreverently  called.  I 
had  a  faint  suspicion  that  Yevgeny  might 
be  one  of  them.  But  he  was  very  robustly 
against  them.  ''It  all  sprang  from  one 
man  who  was  himself  illiterate,"  said  he. 
"He  held  that  as  the  Three  were.One,  there- 
fore Jesus  and  God  were  one  and  the  same, 
and  that  in  the  beginning  Jesus  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth.  And  he  got  a  great 
following  among  the  Russian  monks.  But 
he  was  altogether  in  the  wrong,  and  if  he 
had  read  he  would  have  understood  that 
Jesus  the  Son  of  God  was  born  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time,  and  the  Name  of  God  must 
therefore  have  priority.  Ah!  now  they 
have  all  confessed  they  were  wrong,  and 
have  been  pardoned." 


Father  Yevgeny  69 

We  walked  out  into  the  Moscow  streets, 
and  all  the  while  the  old  monk  talked  most 
energetically,  and  made  astonishing  ges- 
tures. One  moment  he  saw  a  large  trian- 
gle on  a  poster  and  spat  to  one  side  as  he 
passed.  "The  symbol  of  the  masons,"  said 
he.  "To-day  the  Cross  is  fighting  the  tri- 
angle, that  is  one  meaning  of  the  war.  Do 
you  know,  many  of  the  stewards  of  the  old 
vodka  shops  were  secretly  masons,  and  it 
was  found  that  they  cut  out  on  the  floor  un- 
derneath the  shop  counters,  a  cross — so  that 
the  drunkards  might  trample  it  under  foot." 
Yevgeny's  large  intellectual  face  with 
wizened  white  eyebrows,  and  fine  eyes  at  the 
bottom  of  caverns  of  wrinkled  flesh,  was 
full  of  animation,  his  gap-toothed  mouth 
blurted  the  long  torrent  of  words  which  it 
could  hardly  control,  his  long  black  gown 
from  neck  to  ankles  flapped  in  the  wind. 

I  was  sorry  to  have  to  part  with  him 


yo  Russia  in  1916 

again  so  soon.  But  I  promised  to  re-find 
him  when  I  returned  to  Moscow.  He  came 
with  me  to  the  Kursky  station.  "God 
meant  that  we  should  meet  again,"  said  he. 
"It  was  a  miracle.  All  my  life  is  full  of 
miracles."  He  told  me  the  miracles  of  his 
birth.  His  mother  was  one  of  the  serfs. 
She  married,  but  was  eight  years  childless. 
This  caused  her  great  grief,  and  she  did  not 
cease  to  pray  to  God  that  she  might  bear  a 
child.  "If  it  be  a  boy,  he  shall  be  either 
a  soldier  or  a  monk,"  she  promised  God. 
Interesting  that  she  should  feel  that  to  be  a 
soldier  was  also  to  be  consecrated  to  God. 
Yevgeny  was  born,  and  when  he  grew  up  he 
volunteered  to  be  a  soldier,  and  went  to 
fight  the  Turks.  He  was  wounded,  and  as 
he  lay  on  the  battlefield  in  great  pain,  and 
facing  death,  he  promised  his  life  to  God. 
He  then  rapidly  recovered,  and,  fulfilling 
his  promise,   entered   a   monastery.     Since 


Father  Yevgeny  71 

then  all  his  life  he  has  allowed  himself  to 
be  guided  by  visions  and  inspirations  rather 
than  by  reason. 

In  the  vague  light  in  the  train,  all  the 
passengers  were  quarrelling  over  places, 
and  the  porters  were  struggling  with  bas- 
kets and  bundles.  The  old  monk  stood  on 
the  grey  platform  and  embraced  me  very 
warmly,  and  then  I  stepped  up,  and  the 
third  bell  tinkled  and  the  whistle  blew,  and 
the  train  slowly  ran  out — leaving  Yevgeny 
at  the  far  end  of  the  platform  and  the  space 
of  unoccupied  rails  behind  the  train,  mo- 
mentarily increasing. 


VII 

A  RUSSIAN  COUNTESS 

I  MADE  a  journey  into  the  depths  of 
one  of  the*  central  provinces  and  visited 
Countess  X.  She  had  been  in  England 
when  the  war  broke  out,  and  before  she 
could  get  back  to  Russia  her  husband  had 
volunteered  and  had  already  been  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Germans.  In  her  it  was 
possible  to  visualise  something  of  the  per- 
sonal tragedy  of  the  war.  A  charming  and 
rather  beautiful  woman,  the  war  com- 
menced when  she  was  on  the  threshold  of 
life,  when,  as  she  said,  life  seemed  to  prom- 
ise so  much.  She  is  only  thirty-four,  and  is 
yet  white-haired  and  deaf  and  feels  herself 

becoming  older  every  month.     "When  my 

72 


A  Russian  Countess  73 

husband  comes  back  he  will  find  me  an  old 
woman." 

Both  she  and  her  husband  belong  to  the 
old  nobility  of  Russia;  in  the  library  face 
themselves  old  paintings  of  her  ancestor  and 
his,  both  conspirators  in  the  plot  to  murder 
Paul  I,  both  expelled  from  St.  Petersburg 
of  that  day  and  ordered  to  live  on  their 
estates,  where  it  is  said  they  did  not  behave 
too  sweetly  to  their  serfs.  The  present 
Count  is  an  idealist,  an  admirer  of  the  great 
idealistic  classics  of  Russian  literature,  a 
man  who  loves  the  peasants,  and  ordinarily 
spends  most  of  his  time  on  his  estates.  The 
Countess  deplored  the  sort  of  men  he  would 
bring  into  dinner,  knowing  not  the  usage 
of  the  knife,  drinking  the  water  of  the  fin- 
ger-bowls, and  what-not,  but  country  man- 
ners never  touched  him — he  simply  did  not 
see  what  was  being  done. 

When  war  broke  out  he  was  in  such  a 


74  Russia  in  1916 

hurry  to  get  to  the  front  that  he  accepted  a 
commission  in  some  town  regiment  where, 
as  a  rule,  the  nobility  do  not  figure,  and  he 
went  forward  on  the  great  wave  of  Rus- 
sian enthusiasm  which  led  to  Tannenberg. 
There  he  was  taken  prisoner  with  many 
thousand  others,  and  was  removed  into  the 
depths  of  Germany.  As  a  prisoner  he 
made  an  attempt  to  escape,  but  was  arrested 
before  he  reached  the  frontier.  For  this 
ofifence  he  was  put  in  a  fortress  in  Saxony 
and  confined  for  a  long  time  solitarily. 
But  he  was  not  treated  too  badly  by  the 
Germans  and  was  given  pens  and  paper  and 
books.  He  wrote  to  the  Countess  for  one  of 
my  books,  of  which  there  had  been  consid- 
erable talk  before  the  war.  That  was  my 
''Russian  Pilgrims."  The  Countess  had 
bought  a  copy,  lent  it  to  Mme.  S.,  who  had 
passed  it  on  to  the  Grand  Duchess  Eliza- 
beth, and  they  had  all  found  it  interesting. 


A  Russian   Countess  75 

It  was  sent  to  Count  X.  in  Germany  and  he 
translated  it.  It  was  rather  touching  from 
my  point  of  view  to  know  that  a  Russian 
prisoner  had  spent  so  many  solitary  hours 
with  me,  working  at  a  book  I  wrote. 
When  my  "Martha  and  Mary"  was  pub- 
lished he  had  that  book  also  sent  to  him  and 
he  translated  it,  and  wrote  so  much  about 
the  consolation  that  the  Countess  averred 
she  felt  jealous  of  my  name  occurring 
so  often  in  his  letters.  Unfortunately, 
"Martha  and  Mary"  had  already  been 
translated. 

The  Countess  disapproved  of  her  hus- 
band's idealism  and  would  rather  have  had 
him  of  a  more  careless  worldly  type.  She 
craved  life,  not  merely  ideas,  and  was  afraid 
that  the  sedentary  life  of  her  husband  in  the 
fortress  would  so  tell  on  his  mind  that  when 
he  came  back  he  would  be  less  practical  than 
ever. 


76  Russia  in  1916 

"Life  is  going  to  be  good,"  he  wrote.  "I 
have  not  known  till  now  what  possibilities 
it  held,  what  wisdom  there  was  in  men,  what 
beauty.  All  will  begin  again  when  I  come 
back  to  Mother-of-God  village"  (the  place 
where  his  land  is  situated).  "I  want  to  re- 
read all  our  poets.  Their  voices  are  going 
to  sound  again.  Do  you  know  Solovyof? 
He  is  wise  and  tender  and  beautiful.  When 
I  come  back  I  will  not  stray  from  Mother- 
of-God  village,  not  to  Petrograd  or  to  Mos- 
cow. But  we  will  sit  together  and  read 
Solovyof;  you  shall  read  him  aloud  to  me 
and  I  will  be  content  .  .  ." 

"Ah,  but  I  dread  that,"  said  the  Coun- 
tess. "I  should  not  want  to  sit  and  read 
Solovyof.  I  want  to  live  for  my  boy  at 
least.  We  cannot  go  on  living  here  if  my 
boy  is  to  be  educated  properly.  But  then 
— you  know  what  Tolstoy  said  to  women, 
'Never  use  your  influence  with  your  hus- 


A  Russian  Countess  77 

bands  to  make  them  act  contrary  to  their 
convictions.'  Do  you  agree  to  that?  I  do 
not.     I  use  all  the  influence  I  have. 

"Life  has  been  a  great  disillusion  for  me. 
It  promised  so  much.  Once  I  used  to  think 
there  was  nothing  more  wonderful  than 
what  life  was  going  to  bring.  Now  I  see  it 
is  empty.  There  is  nothing  coming.  Then 
the  war  goes  on  from  week  to  week  and 
month  to  month,  interminably  and  without 
any  gleam  of  hope  of  an  end.  It  is  very 
well  to  say  the  war  will  end  by  Christmas, 
next  Christmas  next  again.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve it.  My  boy  is  thirteen,  delicate,  en- 
thusiastic, excitable,  and  already  he  is  ex- 
periencing the  emotion  of  love.  He  lost 
his  heart  lately  to  one  of  his  cousins.  She 
is  twenty  and  is  somewhat  amused.  The 
other  day  he  picked  up  my  hand  and  kissed 
it,  which  was  somewhat  unusual,  and  I 
turned  to  him,     There  were  tears  in  his 


yS  Russia  in  1916 

eyes  and  he  looked  up  at  me  and  said,  'Ah, 
mother,  how  sorry  I  am  it  is  not  Vera's 
hand.'     Galling,  was  it  not?" 

The  Countess,  for  all  her  inward  sadness 
and  her  deafness,  was  extremely  vivacious, 
and  when  she  did  not  hear  she  imagined 
what  you  said  and  was  very  often  right. 
'*I  am  sorry  if  sometimes  I  do  not  hear,"  she 
said.  "Teach  me  to  speak  to  you  so  that 
you  will  hear,"  said  I,  which  is  a  simple  sen- 
tence but  a  suggestive  thought. 

An  interesting  and  sad  time  I  spent  with 
the  Countess.  Her  quiet  tragedy,  that  of 
being  robbed  of  a  husband  and  robbed  of 
precious  time,  is  part  of  the  great  universal 
tragedy  of  war,  which  touches  rich  and  poor 
alike,  simple  and  noble.  The  war  has  come 
athwart  many  promising  lives  in  this  gene- 
ration and  robbed  the  whole  of  the  past  and 
of  the  future  of  all  mortal  significance. 
Still,  it  has  also  given  spiritual  treasure  in 


A  Russian  Countess  79 

the  heart,  in  the  soul,  hidden  treasure — that 
is  what  we  must  not  overlook. 

A  letter  which  I  have  just  received  from 
the  poor  prisoner  gives  the  following 
thoughts: 

"Your  book  has  changed  much  in  my 
conception  of  life.  I  was  too  Martha. 
These  last  two  years  of  captivity  have  been 
a  pilgrimage  for  me  though  I  have  stayed 
in  one  place.  Still  I  console  myself  by 
thinking  that  if  I  am  suffering  others  also 
are,  when  I  should,  on  the  contrary,  remem- 
ber that  what  happens  to  me  happens  to 
no  one  else. 

"I  have  just  been  told  that  my  transla- 
tions may  not  be  sent  out  of  Germany,  but 
I  hear  that  one  book  will  soon  appear  in 
Russia.  It  will  be  good  for  Russians  to 
read  it  now. 

"You  are  right  saying  that  we  shall  be 
mad  with  joy  at  our  relief.     I  cannot  yet 


8o  Russia  in  1916 

feel  myself  free  spiritually  in  prison,  and 
for  me  the  body's  freedom  is  still  the  great- 
est thing  on  earth,  but  I  think  of  the  day  of 
deliverance  as  something  so  remote  and  so 
beautiful  that  I  compare  it  with  our  resur- 
rection from  death." 


VIII 

RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  IN    1916 

I  READ,  as  ever,  a  great  number  of  contem- 
porary Russian  books,  spent  many  hours  in 
bookshops,  and  it  may  not  be  out  of  place 
to  give  my  impression  of  the  literature  of 
the  hour. 

Undoubtedly  the  great  emotional  impulse 
of  the  opening  of  the  war  in  Russia  has 
passed.  This  is  reflected  very  clearly  in 
current  literature.  The  flood  of  printed 
lectures,  war-pamphlets,  and  poems  has 
ceased.  Volumes  of  war  stories  are  no 
longer  printed,  and  indeed  the  war  as  a  lit- 
erary topic  has  become  of  minor  interest. 
In  the  clearance  it  is  now  possible  to  observe 
the   great   desolation   which   the   war   has 


82  Russia   in   19 J  G 

wrought.  There  is  a  strange  silence  in  Rus- 
sia. What  was  before  the  war  has  passed ; 
what  shall  be  after  has  not  begun  to  be. 
There  is  as  yet  no  promise  of  the  future  any- 
where. 

Not  that  books  have  not  been  published 
in  1916.  They  have  been  published  thickly, 
despite  the  absence  of  genius,  the  scarcity  of 
paper,  and  the  supposed  dearth  of  readers. 
Fonvisin  gets  into  her  eighteenth  thousand 
with  "Innocent  and  Yet  to  Blame,"  and 
"The  Keys  of  Happiness"  goes  into  the  sixth 
sequel.  "The  End  of  the  War,"  a  novel  by 
Lef  Zhdanof,  runs  through  several  editions. 
"Russian  Master,"  an  enthralling  yellow- 
back of  470  pages  by  Lappo-Danilevsky,  is 
reprinted  many  times.  The  translation  of 
the  novels  of  W.  J.  Locke  flood  over  every 
bookseller's  counter  and  railway  station 
book-stall.  New  books  are  certainly  as 
plentiful  as  ever.     But  they  are  mostly  in- 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  83 

terim  volumes  whose  object  is  to  pass  the 
time  away  till  the  clamour  of  the  war  be 
over. 

Gorky,  who  appears  more  and  more  as 
an  editor  and  essayist,  has  issued  a  volume 
of  translated  Armenian  literature,  but  he 
is  putting  forth  no  creative  artistic  work, 
and  perhaps  finds  little  time  for  it.  As  a 
reward,  however,  politically-minded  Radi_- 
cal  Russia  certainly  looks  to  him  for  light 
and  leading.  Andreef  goes  on  writing,  but 
seems  to  have  fallen  into  minor  importance. 
Viacheslaf  Ivanof  has  just  written  an  ex- 
cellent book  of  essays  on  Dostoevsky,  So- 
lovyof,  Tolstoy,  etc.,  which  ought  to  be 
translated  into  English  together  with  his 
former  book  "From  Star  to  Star."  Artsi- 
bashef  continues  to  write  salacious  stories 
for  the  Russian  middle-class,  and  seems  to 
reflect  their  life  and  mind.  Igor  Severanin 
is  quiescent,  but  his  latest  volume  of  poems, 


84  Russia  in  1916 

printed  on  bad  paper,  is  dedicated  to  his 
"Thirteenth,"  by  which  he  apparently 
means  his  thirteenth  "lady  friend."  A 
curious  volume  lately  confiscated  by  the 
police  is  "Father  Leontius  and  his  Lady 
Admirers,"  an  account  of  Rasputin,  written 
in  the  form  of  a  fictitious  narrative  by  a 
serious  student  of  sectarianism 
and  religious  phenomena — Prugavin.  The 
society  ladies  circle  round  Leontius  and  cry 
out  "Alleluia!"  "Sabaoth!"  "Three  in 
One  and  One  in  Three!"  which  seems  very 
shocking  and  novel  to  Russians,  though  it 
only  reminds  the  English  reader  of  the 
Agapemonites  at  Clapton  and  similar  phe- 
nomena. Greater  than  the  problem  of  the 
psychology  of  Leontius  seems  to  be  the 
problem  of  the  psychology  of  the  refined 
and  normal  women  who  can  hail  him  as 
God.  Lef  Zhdanof's  popular  novel  on  the 
war  is  very  friendly  to  the  German  people 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  85 

and  gives  them  a  new  chance  after  a  polit- 
ical revolution.  Balmont,  the  popular  poet, 
has  written  an  essay  in  one  volume  entitled 
"Poetry  as  Magic,"  and  parts  are  highly 
reminiscent  of  Stevenson's  "Art  of  Writ- 
ing." He  analyses  the  functions  of  the  let- 
ters of  the  alphabet:  L  is  a  caress;  0  is  space 
triumphant;  u  is  the  music  of  noise,  the 
cry  of  terror;  m  is  man  shutting  his  lips,  it 
is  all  the  dumb  can  say  in  their  anguish, 
etc. 

Walter  Pater  is  being  translated,  and 
seems  to  be  appreciated  by  cultured  Rus- 
sians, though  it  is  a  pity  that  only  frag- 
ments and  not  the  whole  of  his  masterpiece 
"Marius  the  Epicurean"  are  appearing  in 
the  collection  of  his  works.  There  is  cer- 
tainly a  great  demand  for  English  books, 
and  our  literature  remains  in  vogue.  And 
books  about  England  have  been  appearing, 
the  latest  being  Nabokof's  account  of  his 


86  Russia  in  1916 

visit  with  the  journalists.  It  is  somewhat 
inadequate  as  an  account  of  England,  but 
then  it  pretends  to  reflect  only  the  impres- 
sions of  this  officially  guided  tour.  Nabo- 
kof  seems  to  have  been  greatly  impressed  by 
Sir  Edward  Grey  as  a  new  type  of  diploma- 
tist, a  man  whose  strength  lies  in  the  fact 
that  he  is  always  a  gentleman  and  tells  the 
simple  truth.  Chukovsky's  book,  "The  Si- 
lent Ones  have  Spoken,"  on  the  British 
Tommy  is  popular.  Incidentally  it  may  be 
remarked  that  Chukovsky,  who  made  such 
an  impression  in  England,  is  a  journalistic 
critic  of  a  penetrative  quality.  His  'Trom 
Chekhof  to  our  Days,"  though  containing 
some  things  impossible  to  print  in  English, 
is  yet  a  very  clever  book.  A  new  cor- 
respondent of  some  ability  is  now  represent- 
ing the  Russkoe  Slovo  in  England  and  giv- 
ing a  more  representative  account  of  our 
life  than  the  old  school  of  academic  Rad- 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  87 

ic^ls  who  usually  represent  Russian  news- 
papers abroad. 

Rozanof  s  book  on  the  war,  "The  War 
and  the  Popular  Awakening,"  has  been  out 
of  print  for  some  time,  and  presumably  his 
publisher  has  no  paper.  Novikof  s  popular 
novel  on  the  present  point  of  view  with 
regard  to  the  Revolution  is  also  unobtain- 
able. Many  good  books  of  previous  years 
have  not  been  reprinted  through  the  dear- 
ness  or  scarcity  of  paper.  On  the  other 
hand,  certain  more  obscure  publishers  who 
have  managed  to  hoard  up  paper  can  carry 
on  their  business  in  full  swing.  The  chief 
commercial  event  of  the  year  in  the  literary 
w^orld  has  been  the  purchase  by  Seetin  of 
the  Niva,  the  extremely  popular  weekly. 
As  Seetin  already  owns  the  Russkoe  Slovo 
and  several  other  papers  and  literary  enter- 
prises, he  is  becoming  somewhat  of  a  lit- 
erary king,  an  interesting  figure  in  modern 


88  Russia  in  1916 

Russia,  for  he  started  life  as  a  peasant,  be- 
came an  itinerant  hawker  of  penny  books 
for  the  people,  and  is  now  a  man  of  great 
power  in  Russia. 

M.  Protopopof,  now  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior, a  man  of  large  commercial  interests, 
is  now,  backed  by  certain  banks  (previously 
of  a  strong  German  complexion  but  now 
said  to  be  decently  metamorphosed),  start- 
ing a  large  new  Petrograd  newspaper  (name 
not  yet  decided) .  There  were  many  blun- 
ders in  the  advertisement  of  this  news- 
paper enterprise.  It  was  stated  that  Koro- 
linko  would  be  editor  and  that  Leonid 
Andreef  and  many  other  popular  writers 
would  contribute.  But  Korolenko  fought 
shy  of  it  and  the  other  writers  one  by  one 
disclaimed  interest  in  the  publication. 
Maxim  Gorky  was  asked  to  edit  it  but 
found  out  apparently  that  it  was  not  revo- 
lutionary in  tendency,  was  capitalist  rather 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  89 

than  labour,  and  that  the  object  was  inter- 
national trade  prosperity,  and  he  withdrew 
entirely.  Now  A.  V.  Amphiteatrof,  the 
Italian  correspondent  of  the  Russkoe  Slovo 
and  author  of  a  great  number  of  curiously 
interesting  historical  studies,  is  to  be  the 
editor.  He  is  an  Italophile  and  favours 
much  more  friendly  relationship  between 
Italy  and  Russia;  in  politics  he  may  be  said 
to  be  Radical  and  has  got  into  trouble  with 
the  Government  upon  occasion.  It  will  be 
interesting  to  see  whether  the  enormous  cap- 
ital behind  this  paper  will  give  it  the  chance 
of  success  that  the  same  amount  of  capital 
behind  a  new  paper  in  England  would  give. 
In  Russia  large  capital  is  considered  fair 
prey  by  all  who  can  get  itching  fingers  near 
it 

These  notes  give  an  indication  of  literary 
currents  and  tendencies  in  the  autumn  of 
1 91 6,  in  the  midst  of  the  war.     It  should 


90  Russia  in  1916 

be  added  that,  despite  the  great  rise  in  prices 
of  all  things  in  Russia,  the  price  of  books 
remains  almost  as  cheap  as  ever.  Reading 
certainly  increases,  and  consequently  makes 
the  general  cost  of  publication  less.  The 
most  characteristic  of  the  new  war  phe- 
nomena of  Russia  is  still  the  cry  '^Gazette, 
Gazette!"  flung  up  at  the  trains  from  the 
fields  wherever  you  travel.  You  are  asked 
to  throw  your  old  newspapers  out  of  the 
train  window,  that  the  people  in  the  vil- 
lages may  read  them.  This  cry  will  hardly 
die  down  when  the  war  is  over.  But  will 
the  gazette  satisfy?  Will  not  books  have 
to  follow,  and  more  substantial,  better  books, 
because  of  what  the  peasants  have  learned 
from  reality?  Russia  is  waiting  for  new 
national  writers. 

An  interesting  phenomenon  in  the  life  of 
contemporary  Russia  is  the  position  taken 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  91 

up  by  Maxim  Gorky  as  a  challenger  of  the 
national  and  traditional  ideas  in  Russian 
life  and  literature.  He  has  become  the 
spokesman  of  a  considerable  number  of 
working  men  and  middle-class  Russians, 
but  has  at  the  same  time  brought  upon  his 
head  the  wrath  not  only  of  old-fashioned 
people  but  of  a  great  nun^bflfr  of  liberal  and 
progressive  thinkers.  His  campaign  began 
when  he  returned  to  Russia  at  the  begin- 
ning of  1914  and  launched  his  attack  on 
Dostoevsky.  The  war  seemed  to  cause  a 
lull  in  his  activities,  but  last  winter  he  re- 
sumed his  verbal  warfare  with  more  energy 
than  ever.  His  point  of  view  is,  that 
Dostoevsky  is  bad  for  Russia,  because  his 
outlook  was  concentrated  on  suffering  and 
death.  Russia  must  turn  her  back  reso- 
lutely on  Dostoevsky  and  seek  life.  Russia 
must  cease  to  be  mystical,  suffering,  melan- 
choly, and  must  become  clear-minded  and 


92  Russia  in  1916 

mistress  of  her  soul.  The  challenge  raised 
a  great  clamour.  At  first  not  many  sided 
with  him;  but  since  the  appearance  of 
"Two  Souls"'  and  "A  Letter  to  the 
Reader"  ~  in  the  journal  Lietopis  it  be- 
comes evident  that  he  has  some  follow- 
ing. He  has  raised  a  question,  and  many 
Russians  are  considering  it  for  the  first 
time. 

The  Russian  which  Gorky  attacks  is  just 
that  which  is  spiritually  interesting  to  us 
in  England — the  mystical  and  unpractical 
Russia.  Russia  on  pilgrimage,  artistic  Rus- 
sia; and  that  which  he  wants  Russia  to  be 
is  just  what  would  have  least  spiritual  inter- 
est for  us — Russia  optimistic,  cocksure, 
businesslike,  well-dressed,  smart,  and  West- 
ern.    He  writes: 

i"Two    Souls,"    by    Maxim    Gorky.     {Lietopis,   December 

1915-) 

2" A  Letter  to  the  Reader,"  by  Maxim  Gorky.     {Lietopis, 

March  1916.) 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  93 

"The  Russian  seeking-after-God  comes 
from  an  insufficiency  of  conviction  in  the 
force  of  reason — from  the  need  of  a  weak 
man  to  find  some  guiding  will  outside  him- 
self. 

"The  turning  to  mysticism  and  romantic 
fantasies  is  a  turning  towards  stagnation, 
and  is  contrary  to  the  interests  of  a  young 
democracy,  poisoning  and  enfeebling  it, 
giving  it  a  passive  attitude  towards  reality, 
and  suggesting  doubt  in  the  force  of  rea- 
son. .  .  . 

"The  mind  of  the  ancient  East  weighs 
most  heavily  and  murderously  on  our  Rus- 
sian life,  and  has  an  influence  immeasurably 
deeper  on  our  psychology  than  on  that  of 
Western  Europe.  .  .  . 

"We  Russians  have  two  souls;  one,  de- 
rived from  the  wandering  Mongol,  is  that  of 
the  dreamer,  mystic,  idler,  believer  in  fate; 
the  other  is  the  soul  of  the  Slav,  which 


94  Russia  in  1916 

could  burn  up  bravely  and  clearly,  but  can- 
not because  of  the  other." 

One  may  reasonably  question  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  differentiation,  seeing  that 
when  we  scratch  a  Russian  we  do  not  find 
a  dreamer.  We  should  be  inclined  to  say 
exactly  the  reverse ;  that  the  gentle,  dream- 
ing, poetic  soul  was  that  of  the  Slav — and 
that  Gorky  would  find  the  educated  Tartar 
considerably  nearer  his  ideal  than  any  char- 
acteristic Slav. 

The  article  entitled  "Two  Souls"  made 
a  considerable  stir,  the  magazine  went 
quickly  out  of  print,  and  a  great  number 
of  criticisms  were  made  in  the  Press  and 
on  the  platform.  Their  general  tone  was 
that  Gorky  was  out  of  his  true  medium  and 
had  better  go  back  to  his  art.  As  a  result 
Gorky  wrote  "A  Letter  to  the  Reader"  as 
a  sort  of  collective  answer  to  "the  more 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  95 

or  less  ironical  or  angry  comments  of  my 
colleagues  of  the  pen,"  and  sarcastically 
quoted  Lescov:  '^On  the  Russian  people 
it  is  good  to  look  from  afar,  especially  when 
he  prays  and  believes";  and  he  went  on 
to  excuse  his  being  "a  bad  publicist"  and 
to  plead  that  his  words  should  have  weight 
as  being  those  of  one  who  had  lived  through 
a  great  deal  and  knew  Russian  life  at  least 
as  well  as  any  of  his  opponents. 

In  this  reply  he  exhibited  a  rather  curi- 
ous attitude  towards  Anglo-Russian  friend- 
ship which  it  would  be  well  for  English 
people  to  note — a  belief  that  we  seek  friend- 
ship with  Russia  merely  to  exploit  her  ma- 
terially and  to  keep  her  in  a  commercial 
bondage  similar  to  that  which  she  has  suf- 
fered from  the  Germans. 

"Our  Russian  philosophers  argue  in  this 
w^ay  (says  Gorky) .     The  alliance  with  Eng- 


96  Russia  in  1916 

land  is  worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the  Rus- 
sian people  because  it  will  lead  to  the  union 
of  the  nations  under  the  standard  of  the 
true  spiritual  culture  of  the  mystical  East. 
There  are  only  two  world  Powers — Russia 
and  England.  And  these  two  States  have, 
as  the  foundation  of  their  power,  the  lands 
and  peoples  of  the  religious  East,  rather 
than  of  the  materialistic  West.  To  these 
two  is  the  problem  of  uniting  culturally  In- 
dia, China,  Japan.  And  when  this  union 
of  the  peoples  of  the  mystic  East  takes  place, 
the  earth  will  be  given  ultimate  liberty  in 
peace.  But  for  that  end  it  is  necessary  that 
Russia  keep  true  to  her  mission  and  estab- 
lish her  culture  upon  the  mystical  revela- 
tions leading  to  peace  and  love." 

But  Gorky  bids  these  philosophers  be 
undeceived.  It  is  no  use,  he  says,  their 
getting  rid  of  German  capitalists  simply  to 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  97 

make  way  for  English  ones.  That  was  what 
English  friendship  meant.  Such  a  book, 
for  instance,  as  "The  Way  of  Martha  and 
the  Way  of  Mary"  met  with  so  much  ap- 
proval because  in  picturing  us  as  holy  lazy- 
bones and  unpractical  persons  it  allowed  the 
English  capitalist  to  rub  his  hands  with 
glee,  seeing  in  Russia  a  future  British  col- 
ony such  as  Africa  or  India.  Whilst  Rus- 
sia is  in  her  present  state,  friendship  with 
any  European  Power  must  be  the  friendship 
of  the  earthenware  pot  and  the  iron  kettle. 
Russia  has  to  fight  not  for  ''ultimate  lib- 
erty," but  for  the  simplest  civil  rights  as 
citizens.  We  must  try  to  give  the  people 
education  and  try  to  train  their  will  to- 
ward life. 

No  doubt  Gorky  makes  an  appeal  in 
these  words;  and  if  the  average  Russian 
were  asked  what  were  the  foundations  of 
Anglo-Russian   friendship   apart  from  the 


98  Russia   in   1916 

needs  of  the  war,  he  would  answer,  Com- 
mercial exploitation.  Trade,  it  is  true,  is 
put  jealously  forward  as  something  to  be 
captured  after  the  war;  but  it  seems  a  pity 
that  Russians  should  not  realise  the  depth, 
the  sincerity  of  our  interest  in  their  char- 
acteristic religion,  literature,  and  life. 
Whatever  political  tendency  our  interest 
may  help,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  Eng- 
land obtains  from  Russia  spiritual  help ;  and 
a  great  deal  of  that  which  Gorky  condemns 
in  his  own  nation  is  coming  to  our  help  to 
redeem  us  from  commercialism  and  mate- 
rialism. It  is  something  of  a  paradox  that 
the  bright  spirits  of  Russia  should  hate  the 
melancholy  vistas  of  Tambof  and  Kaluga 
and  that  the  bright  spirits  of  England  should 
hate  the  gloom  of  Newcastle  and  Leeds, 
that  one  should  look  with  love  from  Eng- 
land to  the  wandering  pilgrims  of  Tambof 
and  the  other  should  sigh  for  the  clamour 


Russian  Literature  in  1916  99 

of  wheels  where  "man  at  least  is  master." 
But  paradox  is  tolerable  where  misunder- 
standing is  not.  For  paradoxes  abound  in 
truth,  and  truth  is  made  up  of  such  para- 
doxes. 

Later  on  in  his  essay  Gorky  remarks  that 
stormy  and  revolutionary  eras  have  pro- 
duced great  men,  and  his  first  example  is 
Shakespeare,  who  flourished  "in  the  stormy 
time  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  But  rather, 
they  were  "spacious  days";  and  great  men, 
great  thoughts  are  almost  always  born  in 
spacious  days,  halcyon  days,  when  the  dove 
broods  on  waters.  Strength  is  with  calm- 
ness, not  with  noise  and  quarrellings  and 
revolutions.  The  critics  are  probably  right 
when  they  say,  "Return  to  Art."  Art  is 
creative,  whereas  argument  is  generally  de- 
structive. And  Maxim  Gorky  evidently 
wishes  to  create. 

Maxim  Gorky  may  be  called  the  leader 


loo  Russia  in  1916 

of  the  porazhentsi,  the  people  who  believe 
in  defeat.  He  has  lately  added  to  "Two 
Souls"  and  "A  Letter  to  the  Reader"— the 
"Letters  of  William  Simpleton,  a  Know- 
ing Stranger."  *  But  it  is  what  we  call 
"half-baked."  Gorky  has  read  an  enormous 
number  of  books  since  he  tucked  his  blouse 
inside  and  became  respectable,  but  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  where  he,  or  the  reader,  has 
profited.     He  does  not  know  where  he  is. 

'  Published  in  Lietopls  anonymously  but  generally  ascribed 
to  Gorky. 


IX 

RUSSIA  IN    1916 

I  WAS  in  Russia  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
and  during  the  first  months  of  conflict,  and 
I  witnessed  the  superb  enthusiasm  with 
which  she  rose  to  fight.  Again  I  was  in 
Russia  last  year,  when,  owing  to  the  gen- 
eral shortage  of  shells  west  and  east,  Ger- 
many was  able  to  turn  her  superiority  to 
account  by  retaking  Galicia  and  ravaging 
Poland,  and  I  saw  the  humiliation  almost 
amounting  to  despair  of  Russia  then.  And 
therefore  returning  once  more  to  Russia  in 
June,  1916,  I  could  form  a  fairly  just  idea 
of  the  spirit  of  Russia  to-day. 

Last  autumn,  returning  from  Russia,  I 
was  bound  to  say  I  found  Russia  pessimistic, 

lOI 


I02  Russia  in  1916 

and  though  it  is  really  bad  form  to  be  pessi- 
mistic, personally  I  certainly  felt  so  my- 
self. But  all  has  gone  well  in  the  inter- 
vening period,  and  when  I  reached  Russia 
this  year  I  found  her  remarkably  cheerful. 
My  impression  is  that  the  Russians  have  set- 
tled down  to  a  long  war.  It  may  last  three 
or  four  years  more,  but  they  do  not  intend 
to  worry.  After  the  period  of  depression 
they  are  brightly  optimistic  again.  Perhaps 
some  are  too  optimistic  and  rely  on  mysteri- 
ous prophecies  as  to  the  war  finishing  by 
Christmas,  or  think  that  the  German  people 
will  revolt  and  give  us  an  easy  victory 
against  a  divided  kingdom.  One  thing  may 
be  observed:  the  great  work  of  French  and 
English  on  the  western  front  Is  now  fully 
reported  in  the  Russian  Press.  There  are 
on  an  average  two  or  three  columns  about 
us  in  the  Russian  newspaper.  The  Havas 
Agency  is  quoted,  the  Times,  the  Munches- 


Russia  in  1916  1 03 

ter  Guardian,  the  Westminster  Gazette,  and 
other  papers,  very  fully.  It  is  possible  for 
an  Englishman  in  Russia  to  form  a  fair 
idea  of  each  day's  news,  so  the  Russian  also 
can  grasp  it.  That  is  a  splendid  improve- 
ment on  last  year  when  we  got  only  those 
laconic  non-committal  communiques  which 
our  smart  English  journalists  can  cause  to 
blossom  with  occult  significance  for  our 
English  newspapers,  but  which  in  very  truth 
translated  into  Russian  merely  gave  the  im- 
pression that  we  were  doing  nothing. 

Russia  feels  us  closer.  The  distance 
across  is  not  so  great.  Day  by  day  every 
one  feels  that  we  are  all  working  happily 
together  for  one  end  and  with  one  interest. 

The  visits  of  the  journalists  and  the  par- 
liamentarians to  the  West  have  also  helped 
a  great  deal.  The  journalists  wrote  their 
impressions  very  fully  and  expressed 
themselves  with  great  enthusiasm.     Their 


104  Russia  in  1916 

contributions  on  the  subject  lingered  on 
throughout  the  summer.  And  now  they  are 
collecting  their  articles  and  re-issuing  them 
in  book  form.  Nabokof's  "From  Militant 
England"  has  already  had  considerable  suc- 
cess. Lectures  have  also  been  given.  The 
members  of  the  Duma  and  the  Senate  came 
back  imbued  with  our  enthusiasm,  Radical 
and  Conservative  alike,  and  what  they  saw 
of  our  work  was  luminous  in  debate.  On 
the  whole  the  Russians  have  become  much 
more  warm  and  friendly  towards  us.  They 
are  obtaining  a  better  understanding  of  our 
ideals,  our  character  and  hational  determi- 
nation. 

After  the  defeats  of  last  autumn  there 
sprang  up  a  sort  of  intellectual  sect,  the 
porazhentsi,  people  who  believe  in  defeat. 
These  held  that  Russia  stood  to  gain  more 
by  being  beaten  than  by  winning — a  con- 
clusion that  the  Russian  soul  is  more  ready 


Russia  in  1916  105 

to  accept  than  we  should  be.  Brusilof's 
victories  seem,  however,  to  have  dissipated 
this  doctrine  for  the  time  being,  and  the 
porazhentsi  are  little  heard  of  this  autumn. 
Allied  to  this,  however,  has  been  a  more 
important  movement  in  favour  of  a  self- 
dependent  Russia.  Why  should  Russia 
struggle  out  of  German  commercial  bondage 
merely  to  fall  into  British  hands?  Why 
cannot  she  manufacture  for  herself,  be 
enough  unto  herself  in  all  departments? 
This  sentiment  has  been  very  widespread. 
Russia  has  obtained  the  impression  that  the 
striving  toward  Russian  friendship  going  on 
for  many  years  before  the  war  has  been 
primarily  with  the  idea  of  capturing  Rus- 
sian trade.  Whereas  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
impulse  for  friendship  came  jfirst  of  all  from 
literary  and  artistic  England,  then  from 
England  as  a  whole,  and  the  business  men 
were  the  camp-followers. 


io6  Russia  in  1916 

The  question  of  Russia  and  trade  needs 
very  careful  treatment  in  the  Press.  The 
phrase  "exploiting  Russia  after  the  war"  is 
obnoxious  and  almost  devoid  of  real  mean- 
ing. Many  small  merchants  will  be  led  to 
try  and  exploit  Russia  after  the  war  and  will 
simply  burn  their  fingers.  All  trade  with 
Russia  must  be  carefully  arranged  on  broad 
principles  to  benefit  both  countries  equally 
as  before  the  war.  Russia  is  the  great  pro- 
ducing Country  of  the  world  and  she  needs 
a  world  market  for  her  products — that  Brit- 
ain can  obtain  for  her  and  that  will  be  for 
the  health  of  Russia  and  of  the  world.  In 
return  we  shall  send  much  to  Russia,  but  not 
haphazard,  and  not  shoddy  dump,  I  hope. 

Russian  trade  of  all  kinds  is  in  a  bad  way 
just  now  and  it  is  a  trying  time  for  Russian 
merchants — especially  when  they  read  fre- 
quently in  their  newspapers  "Britain's  Rec- 
ord Month  of  Trade,"  and  the  like.     I  think 


Russia  in  1916  107 

these  joyful  telegrams  about  our  trade 
should  be  accompanied  by  an  explanatory 
note  to  the  effect  that  the  greater  part  of  that 
so-called  trade  is  a  matter  of  war  materials 
and  necessities.  The  figures  really  repre- 
sent our  tremendous  activity  in  the  Allied 
cause.  War  is  a  material  waste,  and  every 
moment  it  is  prolonged  we  lose  heavily  ma- 
terially. And  in  this  material  sense  we  lose 
more  than  Russia  loses.  We  have  had  more 
to  lose.  Our  trade  figures  represent  the 
height  of  our  temperature  in  the  war-fever. 
Russia  is  suffering  internally  through  the 
fact  that  she  has  had  only  two  open  ports  of 
value — Archangel  and  Vladivostock — and 
she  cannot  import  the  manufactures  she 
needs.  The  railways  and  the  ships  are 
needed  for  the  transport  of  munitions  and 
food  for  the  Army.  The  Army  comes  first, 
the  war  comes  first,  and  everything  else  must 
give  way.     The  people  in  the  background 


io8  Russia  in  1916 

have  a  real  share  in  the  privations  of  the 
war.  Disorganisation  amounts  at  times  to 
dislocation,  owing  to  war  needs.  But  the 
Russians  bear  things  cheerily.  All  manner 
of  new  economic  phenomena  appear,  and  the 
Russians  try  measure  after  measure  to  rem- 
edy the  troubles. 

Practically  every  man  of  military  age 
throughout  the  vast  empire  is  either  fight- 
ing or  training.  Before  the  war  many  had 
used  influence  to  avoid  military  service,  had 
obtained  medical  exemption  on  the  slight- 
est grounds.  But  there  has  been  a  thorough 
revision,  and  large  numbers  have  been  re- 
covered. You  see  the  new  troops  march- 
ing and  drilling  on  the  open  places  of  the 
large  towns,  in  camps  on  the  steppes,  and  as 
the  train  takes  you  through  the  country  you 
see  boy-Cossacks  prancing  about  on  their 
ponies  and  practising  with  their  lances. 

Russia  is  altogether  in  the  war  and  for 


Russia  in  1916  109 

the  war.  She  is  doing  her  utmost.  And 
her  spirit  is  good.  It  is  well  English  peo- 
ple should  feel  that  to-day.  And  from  us 
should  go  out  to  this  great  people,  suffer- 
ing and  struggling  as  we  are,  a  great  fellow- 
feeling  of  gratitude  and  generous  affection. 


RUSSIAN  MONEY 

Before  the  war  for  £io  you  received  94 
roubles,  but  now  you  receive  150.  Last 
year  after  the  great  Russian  retreat  the  ex- 
change stood  at  over  160,  but  banks  refused 
to  give  more  than  a  nominal  exchange. 
And  in  order  to  stop  traffic  abroad  and  for- 
eign speculation  in  Russian  money  it  was 
forbidden  by  law  for  any  one  to  take  more 
than  500  roubles  out  of  the  country.  Now, 
however,  the  new  value  of  the  rouble  seems 
to  have  been  accepted,  and  banks  generally 
give  the  due  exchange  value.  Although  the 
rouble  has  slightly  improved  it  is  not  an- 
ticipated that  the  paper  money  will  ever  re- 
gain its  guaranteed  gold  exchange.     Each 

no 


Russian  Money  ill 

Russian  note  is  in  the  form  of  a  certificate 
that  the  State  Bank  will  pay  in  exchange  for 
it  a  certain  quantity  of  gold.  That  certifi- 
cate has  little  value  to-day,  and  it  is  an  open 
secret  that  the  Government  buys  gold  at  a 
rate  which  assumes  a  lower  value  for  the 
rouble.  People  who  have  hoards  of  gold 
coinage — and  they  are  many  in  Russia,  for 
the  people  are  disinclined  to  use  banks — are 
keeping  their  gold,  and  their  action  is  jus- 
tified by  the  privileges  which  are  already 
accorded  those  who  can  pay  the  Government 
in  coin.  It  is  expected  by  many  that  at  the 
end  of  the  war  the  rouble  will  be  assigned 
a  lower  gold  value. 

One  obvious  effect  of  the  depreciation  of 
the  rouble  has  been  that  all  real  estate  and 
material  belongings  have  increased  in  money 
value.  If  you  have  an  estate  worth  94,000 
roubles  before  the  war,  it  is  now  worth  150,- 
000  roubles,  and  you  are  lucky  if  your  for- 


112  Russia  in  1916 

tune  was  in  this  comparatively  more  real 
form,  of  land.  People,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  were  in  debt  have  found  the  actual 
weight  of  the  debt  diminishing  as  money 
lost  value.  This  has  been  particularly  no- 
ticeable in  the  case  of  people  who  have  mort- 
gaged property.  Suddenly  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  sell  the  property  at  a  high  figure, 
pay  off  the  debt,  and  still  retain  an  unex- 
pectedly large  margin. 

My  friends  the  M.s  have  long  wished 
to  sell  their  large  house  in  Vladikavkaz, 
but  have  held  its  value  at  what  was  in  the 
old  days  an  absurdly  high  figure.  People 
used  to  laugh  when  the  price  was  mentioned. 
But  this  year,  "as  if.  by  miracle,"  to  use  my 
friends'  phrase,  a  purchaser  turned  up, 
agreed  to  their  price  and  completed  the 
transaction  in  six  hours.  He  was  pleased 
and  they  were  pleased.  "What  sort  of  a 
man  was  he?"  I  asked.     "Oh,  a  sort  of  a 


Russian  Money  113 

Tartar,"  they  replied.  He  made  a  long  way 
the  better  bargain,  for  he  understood  to  what 
extent  the  rouble  had  lost  value.  On  the 
other  hand  my  friends  paid  off  a  big  debt 
with  these  depreciated  roubles,  and  there 
also  they  gained. 

The  people  who  have  made  money  by 
the  war  are  busy  buying  land  and  houses. 
This  is  reproachfully  called  land  specula- 
tion, but  is  in  reality  commonsense  action  on 
the  part  of  those  who  wish  to  make  fast  their 
wealth.  When  I  paid  a  visit  to  Kislovodsk 
in  the  Caucasus,  an  extremely  popular  wa- 
tering place  in  the  mountains,  I  found  a 
perfect  rage  of  buying  and  selling  property, 
brought  about  by  this  elementary  change  in 
values. 

The  public  are  still  exhorted  to  pay  for 
their  railway  tickets  in  gold,  but  are  less 
inclined  to  do  so  than  ever.  There  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  there  are  a  number  of 


114  Russia  in  1916 

millions  of  gold  coins  being  hoarded  in  the 
country.  Friends  have  shown  me  their  pri- 
vate supplies.  When  one  reads  of  burgla- 
ries, there  is  often  a  mention  of  several  hun- 
dreds of  roubles  in  gold  being  stolen. 

In  the  southern  districts  of  the  Empire 
German  agents  have  appeared,  offering  15 
roubles  paper  for  10  roubles  gold.  In  this 
way  Germany  is  said  to  have  collected  a 
considerable  amount  of  Russian  gold.  The 
traffic  was  discovered  by  the  police  in  Rus- 
sian Central  Asia,  where  men  were  found 
to  be  carrying  this  gold  into  Persia  and 
thence  to  Turkey  and  Germany  in  small 
hand-bags.  Many  arrests  were  made,  in- 
cluding that  of  M.  Poteliakhof,  a  rich  Bok- 
hara Jew  and  dealer  in  cotton,  who  was 
found  to  be  deep  in  this  nefarious  trade. 

Russia  has  no  gold  in  circulation,  but  also 
she  has  no  silver  and  no  copper.  Russian 
silver  coinage  became  last  year,  at  least  in 


Russian  Money  115 

popular  estimation,  worth  its  weight  in  sil- 
ver, and  people  began  hoarding  it;  copper 
also  was  hoarded,  and  after  the  retreat  from 
the  Carpathians  there  were  a  series  of  small- 
change  panics  in  the  towns  in  the  back- 
ground. Many  shops  were  sacked  because 
the  shopkeepers  refused  to  give  change ;  peo- 
ple travelled  free  on  the  trams  because  the 
conductors  could  not  change  their  rouble 
notes.  On  other  occasions  you  were  obliged 
to  accept  sticky  postage  stamps  as  change. 
Thorough  Government  action  swiftly  fol- 
lowed, and  paper  tokens  for  all  the  small 
coins  were  introduced.  Postage  stamps 
without  gummy  backs  were  issued  for  10, 
15  and  20  copecks,  a  shilling  note  (50  co- 
pecks) was  issued,  and  slips  were  printed 
for  I,  2,  3  and  5  copecks.  How  filthy  this 
money  became  may  be  imagined.  People 
gave  it  to  beggars  saying,  "I  give  you  this 
not  because  I  pity  your  state,  but  because  the 


ii6  Russia  in  1916 

money  is  so  dirty."  Still  this  new  paper 
was  accepted  without  riots,  and  the  people 
soon  realised  that  it  was  more  convenient 
than  "sounding"  money,  and  that  five  rou- 
bles' worth  of  it  could  be  put  in  a  small 
purse  without  adding  a  considerable  weight 
to  one's  pockets.  Thoughtful  people  wel- 
comed it  as  teaching  the  ignorant  that  money 
had  no  value  in  itself,  but  only  as  a  token  of 
exchange.  To-day  one  never  sees  a  silver 
piece  in  Russia.     All  is  being  hoarded. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  war  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  paper  for  coin  has  taught  some 
people  to  care  less  for  money.  The  Russian 
word  is  dengy,  which  is  really  a  Tartar 
word.  Indeed,  where  money  is  concerned 
the  Russian  is  a  bit  of  a  Tartar  and  loves 
to  feel  the  metal  between  his  hands.  If  a 
substantial  sum  is  mentioned,  he  nods  his 
head  and  exclaims,  "That  is  money!"  ^sjj 
he  could  see  it  being  emptied  out  with  a 


Russian  Money  117 

joyous  clash  on  the  table  in  front  of  him. 
Of  course  the  people  who  see  money  that 
way  always  see  it  in  small  quantities.  The 
Russian  business  man  is  crafty  over  small 
deals.  I  imagine  his  money  sense  fails  him 
more  or  less  in  very  large  deals  and  financial 
operations.  To  the  true  financier  money 
must  be  somewhat  of  an  abstraction  and  high 
finance  a  sort  of  higher  thought. 


XI 

WITHOUT  VODKA,   BEER,   OR  WINE 

There  is  a  great  difference  throughout  the 
land,  something  unmistakable,  and  you 
cannot  say  that  it  is  undefinable,  you  know 
at  once  what  it  is.  Vodka  has  disappeared. 
Beer  has  gone.  Wines  are  sold  at  the  chem- 
ists' only  on  presentation  of  a  medical  certifi- 
cate endorsed  by  the  police.  So  far  from 
relaxing,  the  liquor  prohibition  vigilance 
has  been  increased,  and  districts  to  which 
the  Tsar's  original  ukase  did  not  apply,  such 
as  Russian  Central  Asia,  have  been  taken  in. 
You  see  smart  officers  sitting  down  to  a  bot- 
tle of  citro,  and  it  is  rather  a  surprise  that 
they  do  not  grumble.  Male  complexions 
generally  are  becoming  less  red. 

ii8 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     119 

As  a  result  of  over  two  years'  temperance, 
violent  crime  has  practically  disappeared 
from  whole  countrysides,  and  when  occa- 
sionally some  brutality  has  occurred,  the  po- 
lice have  managed  to  bring  to  book  not  only 
the  direct  offender,  but  also  the  person  who 
was  secretly  brewing  the  liquor.  The  spirit 
of  peace  has  come  into  the  industrial  or  min- 
ing village  on  the  Sunday  and  Saint's  Day, 
where  formerly  there  were  often  scenes  of 
outrageous  public  hooliganism  on  the  part  of 
whole  populations.  Money  has  increased 
in  the  pockets  of  the  poor.  There  is  a 
higher  standard  of  living;  butter  is  being 
spread  on  the  black  bread.  Peasant  fam- 
ilies are  enjoying  the  eggs  which  formerly 
they  would  have  sold  for  the  money  to  buy 
drink.  One  of  the  reasons  given  for  the 
shortage  of  food  supplies  in  the  great  towns 
is  that  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  peasants 
find  nothing  on  which  to  spend  their  money 


I20  Russia  in  1916 

they  will  not  sell  their  produce.  Formerly 
they  could  buy  vodka.  Infant  mortality  is 
already  very  much  on  the  decrease.  On  the 
whole,  children  seem  better  cared  for, 
though  Russian  peasants  are  always  inclined 
to  be  rather  careless  of  these  gifts  of  God. 
There  is  an  outbreak  of  "fashions"  in  the 
village,  and  if  you  ask  your  cook  or  serving- 
maid  she  will  tell  you  how  cottons  are  being 
cut  this  year,  though  the  details  seem  to 
have  little  reference  to  modes  de  Paris. 
There  is  a  popular  joke  that  the  peasant 
women  make  a  mistake  in  the  word  they 
employ  for  fine  dresses.  "Just  look  at  the 
snariadi  (shells)  I  am  wearing,"  when  they 
mean  to  use  the  word  nariadi,  a  townspeo- 
ple's word  for  Sunday  best. 

There  would  also  be  much  new  reading 
in  the  village  but  for  the  fact  that  for  the 
peasant  there  is  as  yet  a  dearth  of  printed 
matter.     Children   are  sent  to  cry  out  to 


Without  Vodka,  ^Beer,  or  Wine     121 

passing  trains  for  newspapers,  and  one  finds 
the  wisps  of  old  papers  in  one's  carriage  and 
throws  them  on  to  the  wind.  They  are 
eagerly  picked  up. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  people  are  more 
active,  less  sluggish,  particularly  in  the 
towns.  There  is  an  unwonted  amount  of 
energy  in  play.  The  suppression  of  vodka 
is  good,  but  it  would  be  absurd  to  say  that 
the  energies  unleashed  are  entirely  on  the 
side  of  good.  The  old  Adam  can  express 
itself  in  many  ways.  The  wrong  impulse 
merely  prevented  is  not  excised,  it  breaks 
out  in  another  place.  There  Is' more  gam- 
bling, more  unrestrained  sexual  sin.  I  sup- 
pose no  Tsar's  ukase  could  clean  up  the 
Nevsky  Prospect  or  Tverskaya,  or  stop  love 
affairs  with  other  men's  wives.  But  even 
if  it  could  the  sinful  impulse  would  break 
out  somewhere  else  with  perhaps  greater 
vigour. 


122  Russia  in  1916 

I  have  been  over  thousands  of  miles  of 
Russia  this  year,  in  town  and  in  village,  in 
the  melancholy  north  and  in  the  passionate 
south,  and  I  can  give  authentic  witness. 
There  is  no  noticeable  leak  of  vodka.  Ex- 
cept in  Archangel  city,  I  saw  no  drunken 
man  anywhere.  There  they  were  drunk 
with  English  whisky  obtained  from  the 
boats  in  the  harbour.  The  pilot  taking 
boats  out  always  expects  a  bottle  of  whisky 
as  well  as  his  three-rouble  tip.  All  manner 
of  people  are,  as  a  British  captain  expressed 
it,  "  bumming  around  for  whisky."  I  be- 
lieve it  is  now  probable  that  ships  bound  for 
Archangel  will  only  be  allowed  to  take  a 
limited  supply  in  future.  Poor  thirsty  Rus- 
sians, one  can  easily  understand  the  wiles 
of  those  who  think  they  can  get  it  at  Arch- 
angel ! 

Shinkarstvo,  or  illicit  distilling  and  sale, 
has,  it  is  true,  broken  out,  as  M,  Kokofstef 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     123 

predicted  when  opposing  the  local  option 
measure  before  the  war.  Alcoholic  substi- 
tutes are  prepared  and  sold  in  small  quanti- 
ties. There  were  several  hundred  prosecu- 
tions during  the  past  year.  But  the  police 
seem  to  have  the  suppression  of  this  shin- 
karstvo  well  in  hand. 

Some  incurables  have  taken  to  methylated 
spirit,  eau  de  Cologne,  furniture  polish,  and 
some  have  died  in  consequence. 

My  impression  is  that  enforced  temper- 
ance in  alcoholic  drink  is  going  to  be  per- 
manent in  Russia — at  least  as  far  as  the 
Tsar's  reign  is  concerned.  National  so- 
briety is  one  of  the  ideals  of  the  Tsar.  It  is 
not  a  temporary  measure.  Licences  may  be 
granted  after  the  war  on  certain  conditions, 
and  the  rich  may  have  their  wines  again. 
But  popular  drinking  is  not  likely  to  be  re- 
established unless  some  business  Govern- 
ment should  ever  get  into  power  having  big 


124  Russia  in  1916 

alcoholic  interests.  But  business  govern- 
ments are  not  likely  there. 

The  chief  gain  to  Russia  from  a  military 
point  of  view  must  undoubtedly  be  held  to 
be  the  great  increase  of  efficiency  in  the  na- 
tion. Their  warm  sociality  always  betrayed 
them  heretofore.  In  Russian  character  and 
temperament  the  elimination  of  strong  drink 
has  not  had  the  effect  which  it  might  be  ex- 
pected to  have  if  introduced  in  this  country. 
Here  our  efficiency,  which  is  becoming 
higher  than  before,  would  probably  be  little 
affected  by  prohibition,  but  personal  char- 
acter and  outlook  on  life  would  be  changed 
beyond  doubt. 

I  have  had  to  answer  publicly  several  let- 
ters on  the  subject  of  Russian  Prohibition 
and  I  append  one  letter  and  answer  as  per- 
haps helpful  generally.  I  am  constantly 
asked  to  refute  false  statements  concerning 
the  sale  of  alcoholic  liquor  in  Russia,  but  as 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     125 

replies  take  time  to  write  I  feel  that  the 
many  temperance  societies  might  well  estab- 
lish vigilance  committees  to  correct  false 
statements.  A  reference  to  the  Russian 
Consul-General  in  London  on  the  subjects 
generally  elicits  a  simple  confirmation  of 
what  I  write  on  the  matter. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Times. 

"Sir, — In  your  issue  of  the  8th  inst.  Mr. 
Stephen  Graham  writes :  'No  wine  or  beer 
...  is  obtainable  in  Russia  except  clandes- 
tinely, as  at  Archangel.' 

"Mr.  Graham's  knowledge  of  Russia  is 
admittedly  unique;  he  may  be  able  to  ex- 
plain, therefore,  what  is  a  puzzle  to  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  subject. 

"I  take  from  your  Russian  Section  of 
Octobe^.28  the  following  excerpts: 

"Page  6. — 'The  Imperial  Duma,  while 
generally  prohibiting  the  consumption  of 
liquors  containing  alcohol,  adopted  an  in- 


126  Russia  in  1916 

dulgent  attitude  towards  grape  wine.  On 
July  14  (27),  1915,  the  Government  im- 
posed upon  grape  wine  a  small  excise  at  the 
rate  of  i  rouble  60  copeck  per  vedro.  In 
the  case  of  grape  wine,  consumption  amounts 
to  40,000,000  vedros  (120,000,000  gallons) .' 

"Then,  again,  referring  to  mild  beer: 

''  This  drink  is  supposed  to  contain  not 
more  than  i>^  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  although 
it  is  manufactured  almost  without  Excise 
inspection  and  might  easily  be  made  stron- 
ger. The  breweries  are  earning  big  profits 
from  the  sale  of  this  beverage,  bigger  even 
than  their  former  profits  from  beer;  the 
State  itself  gets  nothing.' 

"Again,  in  the  Returns  of  State  Revenue, 
page  14,  there  is  given  as  receipts  in  1916 
from  Liquor  Excise,  41,322,000  roubles  in 
1916,  as  against  18,084,000  roubles  in  1915. 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     izj 

"Again,  on  page  15. — 'Profits  of  Liquor 
Monopoly,  503,904,000  roubles  in  191 6, 
as  compared  with  30,718,000  roubles  in 
1915.' 

"Can  Mr.  Graham  reconcile  the  total 
prohibition  which  he  afiirms  now  obtains  in 
Russia  with  these  excerpts,  or  are  there 
some  errors  in  the  figures  which  can  be  ex- 
plained? 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"H S.  K " 


''November  9." 

The  following  answer  was  given: 

To  the  Editor  The  Times. 
"Sir, — It  is  quite  profitable  to  consider 

Mr.  K 's  letter  because  of  the  blurred 

notion  of  Russian  temperance  reform  which 
is  prevalent  in  this  country.  It  is  most  im- 
portant that  whatever  opinion  we  may  hold 
regarding   enforced    temperance   or   other 


128  Russia  in  1916 

questions,  we  should  yet  keep  a  clear  pic- 
ture of  the  current  life  of  our  Allies. 

"I  am  now  just  six  weeks  back  in  Eng- 
land after  a  four  months'  journey  in  which 
I  visited  places  so  wide  apart  in  the  Russian 
Empire  as  Ekaterina,  in  the  far  north,  and 
villages  of  the  Central  Caucasian  range,  in 
the  south ;  and  I  stayed  a  while  in  Petrograd 
and  Moscow,  Rostof,  Orel,  and  other  con- 
siderable cities,  and  I  can  say  by  the  evi- 
dence of  my  eyes  that  intoxicating  liquor  has 
disappeared.  The  only  drunken  men  I  saw 
were  in  Archangel.  Officers  to-day  sit 
down  to  talk  over  a  bottle  of  citro.  In  the 
restaurants  you  are  given  kvas,  a  sort  of 
fruity  ginger-beer,  which  in  truth  is  not 
allowed  to  have  more  than  ilA  per  cent,  of 
alcohol,  and  is  in  no  sense  a  beer. 

"The  article  in  the  Russian  Section  is  by 
the  Petrograd  Correspondent  of  The  Times, 
and  consists  chiefly  of  extracts  from  an  ar- 
ticle by  the  Russian  Professor  Migulin.  I 
find  the  phrase  in  the  translation  is  'malt 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     129 

beverage,'  and  not  'mild  beer,'  as  Mr.  K 

puts  it;  and  I  think  it  refers  to  a  beverage 
something  like  birch  beer  as  sold  in  Amer- 
ica, a  sort  of  empty  symbol  of  beer  taken  not 
because  it  is  pleasant  but  because  one  must 
order  something  with  one's  meals.  It  has 
no  alcoholic  reality,  is  sold  in  bottles,  and 
is  of  a  standardised  taste  and  quality. 

"As  regards  wine,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  in  the  Caucasus,  in  Transcaucasia,  and 
in  Russian  Central  Asia  there  are  wine  in- 
dustries, wine  is  the  local  popular  drink,  not 
tea  as  in  Russia  proper.  This  wine  is 
usually  kept  in  skins  and  sold  in  pots. 
There  is  also  a  bottling  industry,  but  the  ex- 
port of  this  wine  from  these  remote  parts  of 
the  Empire  to  Russia  proper  has  been  pro- 
hibited except  in  cases  of  specially  guaran- 
teed orders. 

"I  believe  British  and  American  and 
other  foreign  subjects  are  allowed  to  pur- 
chase wine  for  their  private  use  on  the 
presentation    of    a    certificate.     Professor 


130  Russia  m  1916 

Migulin  appears  to  be  advocating  a  State 
monopoly  in  the  sale  of  wine  on  the  ground 
that  'only  on  condition  of  a  State  monopoly 
would  it  be  safe  to  allow  the  free  circulation 
of  grape-wine;  otherwise  under  the  guise  of 
wine  vodka  will  again  make  its  appearance.' 
For  the  phrase  'grape  wine'  read  'grape 
juice.'  Professor  Migulin's  figures  are  ap- 
parently incorrect — the  population  of  Rus- 
sia is  not  consuming  a  gallon  of  grape-juice 
per  head  in  addition  to  what  it  drinks  in  the 
way  of  citro,  kvas,  narzan,  birch  beer,  etc. 

"As  regards  the  revenue  returns,  may  I 
make  the  following  remarks: 

"i.  Although  the  sale  of  alcohol  in  the 
form  of  drink  has  been  abolished,  the  man- 
ufacture continues  in  perhaps  larger  quanti- 
ties. 

"Enormous  quantities  have  been  exported 
to  France  for  use  in  the  manufacture  of  high 
explosives,  and  I  do  not  need  to  say  more 
than  that  on  the  head  of  the  extensive  in- 
dustrial uses  of  alcohol. 


Without  Vodka,  Beer,  or  Wine     131 

"2.  In  the  figures  of  profits  of  liquor 
monopoly  are  included  («)  debts  recovered ; 
{h)  sums  brought  in  after  the  winding-up 
of  big  shops  where  the  accounts  were  not 
simple;  (c)  sale  of  vodka  in  Russian  Cen- 
tral Asia  and  Transcaucasia  (lately  prohib- 
ited in  both  these  districts  also)  ;  {d)  sale 
abroad;  (e)  the  sale  in  Government  shops 
of  Caucasian  mineral  waters,  now  very  ex- 
tensive. 

"3.  Under  the  heading  Liquor  Excise  is 
included  the  tax  on  mineral  waters,  grape- 
juice,  etc.,  tax  on  real  wine  in  Central  Asia 
and  Transcaucasia,  on  wine  specially  sup- 
plied for  foreign  consumption,  on  wines  al- 
lotted to  chemists  for  medical  purposes,  etc. 

"4.  The  great  increase  in  the  returns  is 
due  to  the  tax  on  non-alcoholic  drinks  and 
Government  sales. 

"5.  In  these  revenue  returns  the  classifi- 
cation and  nomenclature  is  not  scientific, 
and  the  primary  intention  is  to  give  a  rough 
guide  to  the  figures  of  the  Budget. 


132  Russia  in  1916 

''I  hope  these  remarks  do  something  to 
clear  away  the  doubt  in  the  minds  of  stu- 
dents of  figures  and  papers.  For  the  rest 
I  can  only  reiterate  the  evidence  of  my 
eyes — Russia  is  without  spirits,  beer,  or 
wine,  and,  if  I  may  add  it,  she  does  not  feel 
in  any  way  persecuted  or  tyrannised  over 
because  of  it. 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"Stephen  Graham." 


XII 

GAY  LIFE 

I  WAS  at  Petrograd  and  also  at  Kislovodsk, 
which  is  a  sort  of  Petrograd  set  in  the  midst 
of  the  Caucasus,  Russia's  greatest  watering- 
place,  a  resort  of  the  rich.  As  is  commonly 
said,  you  leave  your  children  behind  when 
you  go  to  Kislovodsk;  they  would  only  be 
in  the  way.  Here  turn  up  in  these  war  years 
many  who  would  otherwise  be  at  Nauheim 
and  Carlsbad  or  on  the  Riviera.  It  is  a 
place  of  few  conveniences,  but  it  has  an  army 
of  doctors,  it  has  the  springs,  and  it  has  "so- 
ciety." It  was  so  crowded  this  summer  of 
1916  that  people  slept  in  passages,  in  out- 
houses, in  ramshackle  cupboards  and  bath- 
house, and  paid  fancy  prices  for  the  priv- 

133 


134  Russia  in  1916 

ilege.  Return  seats  in  the  trains  were  all 
booked  for  two  months  ahead,  and  but  for 
"the  loop-holes  of  escape"  I  should  have 
been  forced  to  stay  in  the  Caucasus  until  the 
end  of  September. 

Petrograd  and  Moscow  being  so  desper- 
ately serious  in  tone,  many  pleasure-lovers 
decided  to  extend  the  summer  season,  and 
even  to  try  Kislovodsk  as  a  winter  resort. 
There  was  lively  speculation  in  rooms  and 
datchas  with  a  view  to  high  prices  reigning 
throughout  the  winter. 

An  unhealthy  spot  this  Kislovodsk,  the 
air  of  its  little  streets  heavy  with  the  odour 
of  decay  and  dirt.  It  is  in  a  valley  and 
there  are  glorious  moors  and  hills  about  it. 
But  one  never  sees  any  visitor  on  the  hills. 
The  visitors  keep  to  the  leafy  promenades 
in  the  park,  within  hearing  of  the  music  of 
the  bandstands  and  in  reach  of  the  cafe  and 
the  ice-cream  bar.     The  women  are  mostly 


Gay  Life  135 

in  white,  but  more  coarse  of  feature  tlian  in 
most  places  in  Russia — the  faces  of  women 
on  a  low  level  of  intelligence,  of  the  sort  who 
pride  themselves  on  being  "interesting"  to 
men.  They  wear  their  diamonds  in  the 
afternoon.  A  lady  was  robbed  of  her 
diamonds  in  broad  daylight  in  Essentuki, 
a  neighbouring  resort,  and  on  being  re- 
proached for  wearing  diamonds  in  wartime, 
replied,  "Where  else  should  I  show  them 
except  at  the  waters?" 

The  people  who  have  made  fortunes  out 
of  the  war  are  prominent  at  Kislovodsk, 
and  the  emptiness  of  their  gay  life  is  an 
unpleasant  contrast  to  the  realities  of  the 
time.  Not  the  cultured  of  Russia,  these, 
not  the  noble  and  the  wise,  not  the  people 
who  really  are  the  nation!  Yet  enter  into 
conversation  with  one  of  these  commercial 
parvenus  and  you  find  boundless  vanity  and 
self-importance.     "We  are  the  people  who 


136  Russia   in  1916 

count  in  Russia,"  they  say.  Go  into  a  res- 
taurant and  your  senses  will  be  lacerated  as 
you  see  them  all  around  you  eating  with 
th'eir  knives.  The  books  they  are  reading 
are  Artsibashef,  Fonvizin,  Verbitskaya. 
Ask  about  the  real  artists  of  Russia  and  they 
raise  their  eyebrows  or  express  contempt. 
They  are  nearest  to  the  class  in  America  that 
invented  the  word  "high-brow"  and  for 
whom  commercial  talent  must  go  on  manu- 
facturing huge  quantities  of  loathsome  "low- 
brow" literature,  art,  music  and  drama. 

Many  people  asked  me  about  England, 
but  I  was  obliged  to  say  the  spirit  of  Eng- 
land would  not  tolerate  a  Kislovodsk;  we 
have  nothing  quite  so  shameless  during  the 
war.  We  have  people  who  are  profiting  by 
death  and  destruction  and  calamity  and  sor- 
row, but  public  opinion  does  not  allow  these 
venal  gains  to  be  flaunted  in  this  way. 

At  Russian  theatres,  as  indeed  in  English 


Gay  Life  137 

theatres  at  home,  flippant  and  indecent 
farces,  the  theatres  themselves  going  ahead 
of  the  people*  and  leading  downward.  One 
thing  we  may  generally  surmise,  comparing 
one  side  of  the  footlights  with  the  other — 
the  life  of  the  people  looking  on  is  ten  thou- 
sand times  better  than  the  life  presented 
on  the  stage.  The  vulgar  and  cynical  no- 
tions expressed  by  the  actors  and  actresses 
are  only  regarded  as  curious  or  amusing  or 
spicily  outrageous  by  the  people  who  have 
paid  so  much  money  for  the  doubtful  priv- 
ilege of  listening. 

I  witnessed  a  three-act  play,  translated 
or  adapted  from  the  French,  where  there 
was  the  usual  dressing  and  undressing  on 
the  stage  and  scampering  about  in  under- 
garments. Suddenly  the  lady  who  had 
the  most  abominable  part  to  play,  in  the 
midst  of  one  of  the  most  unpleasant  parts 
clutched  at  her  breast  with  her  hand  and 


138  Russia  in  1916 

fell  with  a  loud  thud  on  the  stage.  Then 
the  curtain  came  down.  We  waited.  Pres- 
ently out  came  a  weedy-looking  pale-faced 
commercial  and  made  the  following  state- 
ment: 

As  Mme.  A.  has  had  a  heart  seizure  we 
cannot  continue  the  performance.  The 
management,  however,  hope  that  the  audi- 
ence will  not  on  that  account  feel  a  griev- 
ance or  that  the  money  ought  to  be  returned. 
To-night's  tickets  will  be  available  to-mor- 
row night,  when  a  substitute  will  be  found 
for  Mme.  A. 

At  this  there  were  angry  shouts  from  all 
over  the  theatre : 

"What  is  the  money  to  do  with  it?" 

"We  don't  want  to  see  the  wretched  play 
again." 

"How  is  her  health?'' 

"Tell  us  how  she  is." 


Gay  Life  139 

Some  one  else  came  out  from  behind  the 
curtain  and  asked: 

"Is  there  a  doctor  here?" 

A  young  woman  at  once  came  up.  But 
the  audience  left  its  seat  and  crowded  for- 
ward towards  the  curtain  asking  angrily 
how  the  actress  was.  The  actress  was  not 
a  particular  favourite.  But  the  people 
cared,  and  what  is  more,  they  had  been 
made  ashamed  by  the  callous  but  sincere 
statement  of  the  management  on  the  more 
important  aspect  of  the  interruption  of  the 
programme.  Life  on  the  stage  and  life, 
how  wide  apart! 

Intoxication  through  alcohol  has  disap- 
peared, and  with  it  a  certain  amount  of  ab- 
normal and  bestial  vice,  but  the  world  re- 
mains as  evil  and  human. 

Drink,  as  the  porter  in  Macbeth  said,  is 
the  great  equivocator,  it  sets  on  and  sets  off, 


140  Russia  in  1916 

persuades  and  then  disheartens.  The  re- 
moval of  drink  has  left  men  more  restless 
— at  least  in  the  towns.  Probably  in  the 
village  the  removal  of  all  kinds  of  drink 
has  been  an  unmixed  blessing.  But  in  the 
towns  the  roving  eye  of  man  has  roved  fur- 
ther. It  is  impossible  to  clear  up  the  im- 
morality of  the  towns  by  Imperial  ukase. 
The  Russian  boy  of  the  town  is  born  into 
a  world  of  more  temptations  and  risks  than 
the  English  boy.  A  great  deal  of  disclosed 
Russian  genius  must  be  poisoned  between 
the  ages  of  twelve  and  twenty  by  certain  so- 
cial conditions  which  no  one  in  Russia  seems 
capable  of  making  an  effort  to  clear  up. 
The  Russian  town  of  to-day  is  no  doubt  none 
too  easy  for  the  young  woman,  and  it  seems 
a  sort  of  hell  for  the  young  man,  a  long 
burning  and  the  worm  which  dieth  not. 
Health,  health,  how  to  obtain  conditions  of 
health,  that  is  the  problem! 


Gay  Life  141 

I  was  speaking  to  a  somewhat  famous 
Russian  senator  about  the  deportation  of 
superfluous  population  from  Petrograd  and 
he  said:  "The  decentralisation  of  our  cit- 
ies' populations  is  one  of  the  things  which 
are  coming.  Why  should  Moscow  and 
Petrograd  increase  in  size?  They  only  do 
so  at  the  expense  of  Russia  as  a  whole.  We 
have  plenty  of  room  for  all " 

I  strayed  into  various  cafes  in  strange 
towns  this  summer  and  ordered  my  coffee 
and  settled  down  to  write  parts  of  a  long 
book  on  religion  and  life  with  which  I  was 
preoccupied  all  these  months  in  Russia.  I 
was  generally  intent  to  sit  down  and  write 
out  some  idea  which  had  occurred  to  me 
whilst  I  had  been  walking.  One  evening  I 
found  myself  in  a  typical  den — the  long  al- 
ley of  a  cafe  with  women  on  each  side, 
painted,  powdered,  striking,  their  legs 
crossed  or  spread  about  the  table  legs,  ciga- 


142  Russia  in  1916 

rettes  in  their  hands,  half-finished  glasses  of 
coffee  in  front  of  them. 

Down  the  alley  came  young  men  with 
flickering  eyes  and  lips,  now  and  then  a  leer, 
a  sickly  smile,  a  cynical  or  satirical  grin. 
"This  is  the  world,"  think  the  young  men, 
"this  is  the  gay  wicked  world  where  what 
should  never  be  sold  can  be  bought." 

But  they  are  wrong — it  is  only  a  wee 
wicked  corner.  The  great  wide  world  is 
sweeter,  healthier. 


XIII 

OLD  FRIENDS 

I  MET  Alexander  Alexandrovitch  Beekof, 
the  hunter  of  Archangel  at  Moscow.  He 
had  purchased  three  fine  pictures  by  our 
friend  Pereplotchikof,  and  they  stood  in  his 
room  in  the  Gostinny  Dvor  in  wooden  pack- 
ing cases.  Alexander  Alexandrovitch  stood 
me  a  lunch  at  Martianitch's  in  the  Red 
Square  on  a  meatless  day — a  merchant's  res- 
taurant where  you  may  see  many  antique 
Russian  types  of  merchants  wearing  knee 
boots  and  blouses  and  longish  hair.  We 
had  a  nice  dish  of  fish-pie  {rastegai)  with 
our  soup,  and  though  no  wine  was  available, 
the  bill,  as  I  saw,  for  the  two  of  us  was 
twenty  roubles,  and  three  roubles  more  went 

143 


144  Russia  in  1916 

for  the  tip.  In  that  way  war  prosperity  ex- 
pressed itself.  My  friend  had  to  spend 
many  days  in  Moscow  collecting  boots  in 
small  parcels.  As  the  Government  allows 
no  packing-cases  with  goods  to  be  taken  by 
train  from  Moscow  to  Archangel  (I  im- 
agine fine  art  is  exempted  from  this  regula- 
tion), Alexander  Alexandrovitch  Beekof 
had  to  buy  some  twenty  portmanteaus  to 
take.his  purchases  of  boots  back  to  his  native 
city. 

Pereplotchikof  the  painter  is  not  very 
well.  Heart  weakness  deprived  him  of  the 
use  of  his  legs  this  summer.  He  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed  and  felt  very  wretched.  I 
spent  many  mornings  and  evenings  sitting 
and  talking  to  him.  The  doctors  say  that 
vegetarianism  has  been  too  much  for  his  con- 
stitution. One  evening  I  brought  him  a 
quantity  of  rich  honey  I  had  come  across  in 
a  little  shop  in  Moscow.     He  was  delighted 


Old  Friends  145 

as  a  child,  and  honey  he  said  was  ideal  food 
for  him.  In  exchange  for  this  gift  he  gave 
me  an  old  cross  which  he  had  once  picked 
up'On  a  market  stall. 

Alexey  Sergeitch  came  with  me  to  visit 
Pereplotchikof  one  evening  and  was  much 
touched  to  see  the  change  in  him.  But  we 
had  a  very  lively  talk  of  old  days  on  the 
Dwina.  Alexey  Sergeitch  is  now  a  teacher 
of  history  in  several  secondary  schools  in 
Moscow.  He  has  just  published  his  first 
book,  the  fruit  of  some  historical  research, 
and  he  looks  forward  to  writing  other  books 
of  like  character,  so  making  a  career  in  his- 
tory. He  has  the  directly  opposite  view  to 
mine  regarding  Russia  and  we  had  many 
long  and  inconclusive  debates  on  Church 
and  State.  His  sister,  Varvara  Sergevna,  is 
nurse  in  an  immense  military  hospital  on 
the  Volhonka.  I  spent  an  evening  up  till 
midnight  with  her,  helping  to  cut  rolls  of 


146  Russia  in  1916 

linen  for  bandages  with  atrociously  blunt 
scissors.  Russia  has  few  machines  for  this 
work.  Every  night  thousands  of  Russian 
girls  are  arduously  cutting  linen  as  we  did 
with  Varvara. 

Nicholas,  my  first  Russian  friend,  whom 
I  met  in  London  ten  years  ago  and  tried  to 
learn  Russian  from^  the  boy  who  invited 
me  to  spend  my  first  Christmas  in  Russia  at 
his  father  the  deacon's  in  Lisitchansk,  is 
now  settled  down  and  married,  and  has  a 
family  at  Kishtim  in  the  Urals,  where  his 
knowledge  of  English  has  found  him  a  place 
in  the  office  of  an  Anglo-Russian  mining 
company. 

Nicholas  and  I  lived  with  another  poor 
student,  three  in  a  room,  in  Moscow — that 
was  after  the  Christmas  in  the  country. 
Our  most  intimate  friend  was  a  certain 
Sasha,  a  gaunt  but  happy  student  of  phil- 
ology.    He  used  to  bring  stories  and  read 


Old  Friends  147 

them  aloud  to  our  weekly  student  parties  on 
Saturday  evening.  From  him  I  heard  first 
some  of  the  stories  of  Kuprin  and  also  Che- 
khof's  Dushetchka  or  ''Little  Soul,"  which 
Mrs.  Garnett  has  lately  translated  under  the 
title  of  'The  Darling"  ^ — a  famous  story. 
Sasha  has  grown  cold  to  Nicholas  now,  and 
I  had  lost  sight  of  him,  but  the  many  refer- 
ences to  my  work  in  the  Russian  Press 
brought  to  his  mind  the  idea  that  the  Eng- 
lishman he  once  knew  was  the  same  as  the 
one  now  so  well  known.  So  he  wrote  to 
me,  and  I  tried  to  see  him  this  summer — 
married  now  and  in  good  circumstances, 
working  in  the  Russian  Foreign  Of- 
fice. 

Julia,  of  whom  I  wrote  in  "The  Way  of 
Martha  and  the  Way  of  Mary,"  as  a  type 
of  a  Martha,  has  had  a  year  of  pain,  caught 
erysipelas  from  a  servant,  and  this  devel- 

1  "The  Darling"  by  Anton  Chekhof  tr.  by  Constance  Garnett. 


148  Russia  in  1916 

oped  into  a  sort  of  blood-poisoning.  Sores 
appeared  all  over  her  body,  and  then  one  big 
sore  threatening  her  with  death;  she  has 
been,  as  it  were,  vivisected  through  the  open 
wound  all  the  summer,  and  felt  that  she  her- 
self must  have  cut  up  live  animals  for  sci- 
ence's sake  in  some  previous  existence,  and  is 
now  living  through  the  animals'  experience 
that  her  soul  may  really  know  what  it  means. 
She  has  been  in  terror  lest  her  sisters  should 
be  infected  from  her  and  she  has  been  afraid 
lest  she  should  die  and  they  be  left  without 
her  motherly  protection.  Poor  Julia !  But  I 
left  her  on  a  fair  way  to  recovery.  Little 
Lena  is  very  well.  The  old  lady,  the 
Queen  of  Spades,  is  more  frail  and  is  suffer- 
ing from  the  effects  of  a  bad  fall. 

Varvara  Ilyinitchna  is  much  older,  has 
lost  a  son,  has  had  heart  attacks,  and  is 
bound  to  take  things  more  easily.  Alex- 
ander Fedotch  looks  extremely  well.    The 


Old  Friends  149 

daughter  is  matron  of  a  small  hospital,  and 
has  a  wonderful  time  with  her  men. 

Amelia  Vasschevina,  the  old  grand- 
mother, has  sold  the  white  house,  has  paid 
her  debts  and  has  a  large  margin  over.  I 
fear,  however,  high  prices  will  whittle  her 
little  fortune  of  ready  money  away.  Her 
daughter  Masha,  the  despair  of  all  doctors, 
suffering  from  an  incurable  internal  com- 
plaint which  has  been  diagnosed  as  cancer, 
appendicitis,  neuritis,  inflammation  of  the 
solar  plexus  and  what  not,  and  for  which 
she  has  had  all  manner  of  treatment  and 
swallowed  all  sorts  of  medicine,  has  recom- 
menced her  work  as  a  dentist.  And  though 
suffering  agonies  of  pain  she  has  the  nerve 
to  doctor  teeth  and  smile  at  the  lugubrious 
and  fearful  faces  of  her  patients.  Poor 
Masha,  she  has  been  cut  open  and  examined 
and  sewn  up  again,  mesmerised,  prayed  into, 
and  this  last  spring  a  miracle  worker  was 


150  Russia  in  1916 

brought  to  consider  her.  He  always  carried 
about  with  him  an  Indian  sword. 

He  said :  "Don't  tell  me  what  you  think 
is  the  matter  with  her  or  what  the  symptoms 
are.  That  would  only  make  it  more  dif- 
ficult for  me."  He  came  into  her  room 
took  out  a  bit  of  glass  from  a  waistcoat 
pocket,  and  looked  at  her  face  through  it. 

"You  will  live,"  said  he,  and  he  dropped 
his  glass  and  went  away.  "But  I  charge  you 
nothing,"  he  added,  and  he  brandished  his 
sword  as  he  went  out  at  the  door. 

Loosha,  of  whom  I  have  sometimes  writ- 
ten, feels  more  happy  than  she  has  ever  done 
before.  What  the  secret  is  I  do  not  know. 
But  she  has  begun  to  write  poetry. 

Katia  of  Kief  married  the  young  lawyer. 
He  was  taken  for  the  war,  but  the  family 
used  influence  to  bring  him  back  to  a  safe  job 
in  the  rear.  I  do  not  know  what  happened 
to  discarded  Boris. 


Old  Friends  151 

Mme.  Odintsefa  is  still  keen  on  her  evan- 
gelicals, and  reads  Spurgeon's  sermons  with 
the  same  enthusiasm  as  in  old  days  she  read 
Mrs.  Besant. 


XIV 

RUSSIA'S  NEW  WAR  PICTURE 

Russia  has  now  a  popular  war-picture  done 
by  one  of  the  most  famous  of  her  artists, 
Nesterof.  It  appeared  during  the  past  win- 
ter, and  prints  of  it  are  now  exposed  in  every 
city,  postcard  reproductions  on  every  book- 
stall in  Russia.  It  shows  a  wounded  Rus- 
sian officer  standing  beside  a  Russian  sister 
of  mercy.  He  is  in  khaki,  and  is  decorated 
with  the  Order  of  St.  George;  she  in  white 
hospital  dress.  Both  faces  are  marvellously 
expressive  of  suffering — the  woman  seems 
drowned  in  past  suffering,  and  yet  aware  of 
the  immensity  of  suffering  that  yet  must 
come.  The  man  has  the  vision  in  his  eyes 
that  makes  it  all  worth  while. 

152 


Russia's  New  War  Picture         153 

Her  face  is  one  of  faith,  his  of  vision. 
Together  they  express  the  ideal  relationship 
of  a  man  and  a  woman,  he  fighting  the 
great  fight,  living  life  as  it  ought  to  be  lived, 
she  supporting  him  with  her  faith  and  her 
love. 

Nesterof  when  he  was  yet  a  boy  began  to 
paint  frescoes  in  churches,  and  has  painted 
in  his  time  many  a  wonderful  Madonna  and 
Child.  In  this  picture  where  he  has  de- 
scended to  paint  just  a  woman  and  a  man 
in  the  midst  of  daily  life  you  may  see  a  sort 
of  suggestion  of  the  Mother  and  Child,  a  re- 
flection of  some  other  composition,  of  some 
Russian  Madonna  and  leaping  Babe.  Here 
also  the  man  is  really  a  child,  though  his 
eyes  have  the  knowledge  of  the  ideal  and 
the  quest,  and  the  woman's  face  has  purity 
and  love  and  foreknowledge  of  the  suffer- 
ing that  must  come. 

The  background  of  the  picture  is  Russia, 


154  Russia  in  1916 

the  green  forest  of  pines  and  firs,  the  melan- 
choly placid  lake,  the  wan  white  church 
with  its  swelling  coloured  dome.  Russia 
is  in  the  background.  Russia  bore  them, 
and  their  hearts  yearn  towards  her. 

So  it  can  be  a  popular  Russian  war  pic- 
ture and  be  hung  on  many  walls  and  looked 
into  and  loved  in  this  strange  year  of  grace 
1916. 

The  words  printed  below  are  the  famous 
lines  of  the  poet  Khomiakoff : 

The  podvig  is  in  battle: 

The  podvig  is  in  struggle: 

The  highest  podvig  is  in  patience, 

Love  and  prayer. 

I  leave  the  word  podvig  because,  as  I 
wrote  in  my  chapter  explaining  the  word  in 
"Martha  and  Mary,"  it  is  difficult  to  render 
it  by  any  one  word  in  English.  But  it  is 
one  of  the  most  important  words  in  the  Rus- 
sian language.     Here  possibly  the  nearest 


Russia  s  New  War  Picture         155 

word  is  "trial."  It  means  a  noble  deed,  an 
act  of  faith,  a  noble  battle  against  fearful 
odds,  a  great  sacrifice  or  act  of  renunciation, 
a  shaming  of  the  devil,  a  bold  religious  af- 
firmation. Volumes  might  be  written  on  it. 
The  acts  of  the  anchorites  and  hermits  are 
podvigs.  St.  George  killing  the  dragon  per- 
formed a  podvig.  The  seven  champions  of 
Christendom  would  in  Russia  be  the  seven 
podvizhniks  and  their  heroic  exploits  pod- 
vigs, but  there  we  have  not  a  word.  For 
performing  podvigs  Russian  soldiers  are 
decorated.  But,  as  Nesterof  tells  us  in  his 
picture,  there  are  the  greatest  for  which 
there  is  no  decoration. 

The  greatest  podvig  is  in  patience, 
Love  and  prayer. 

The  sound  of  these  Russian  words  is  so  beau- 
tiful in  the  original  tongue  that  inevitably 
after  you  have  read  them  you  go  on  mur- 


1^6  Russia  in  1916 

muring  them  till  they  are  yours — a  posses- 
sion of  the  heart: 

Podvig    yest    ee    f    srazhenie: 
Podvig  yest  ee  f  borbay : 
Veeshy  podvig  f  terpenie, 
Liubvy   i  molbay. 

This  is  not  absolutely  correct  translitera- 
tion, but  I  have  written  in  the  hope  that  it 
may  be  easier  to  say. 

This  picture  is  true  for  Russia  and  will  be 
valuable  long  after  peace  has  come  as  a  his- 
torical witness  of  the  spirit  of  the  time.  In 
the  war,  despite  all  its  ugliness  and  acciden- 
toriness,  human  nature  is  revealed  as  more 
beautiful,  more  daring,  also  more  tender. 
The  Russians  have  this  picture,  and  we  also 
have  the  reality.  There  is  a  strong  spiritual 
life  manifest  among  us.  It  is  manifest  in  the 
faces  of  the  soldiers  and  in  the  life  of  their 
anxious  and  loving  women  they  leave  be- 
hind.    Will  not  some  one  paint  it  for  us? 


XV 

IN  THE  HOSPITAL 

I  VISITED  several  hospitals  in  Moscow, 
Rostov,  and  Petrograd.  Those  in  the  north 
had  not  many  wounded,  those  in  the  south 
had  the  men  who  had  been  hurt  in  Brusilof  s 
advance.  Russia  looks  her  best  in  hospital 
where  the  men  are  suffering  not  only  for 
Russia  but  for  us,  where  the  appearance  of 
the  men  has  the  idealisation  of  hospital  dress, 
and  the  transfiguration  of  care.  There  is 
no  more  sweet  possession  for  a  woman  than 
a  hospital  where  tenderness  and  love  may  be 
lavished  and  patience  given  without  end. 

Russia  has  had  generally  more  wounded 
than  any  other  nation,  and  the  arrangements 
for  the  receipt  of  the  wounded  have  been 

157 


1^8  Russia  in  1916 

wonderful  all  the  time.  Despite  a  national 
incapacity  for  organisation,  the  wounded 
have  not  died  for  want  of  care  and  fore- 
thought. In  that  speaks  the  Russian  com- 
passion and  love  for  suffering  humanity. 
The  nursing  of  the  wounded  is  an  endless 
tale  of  personal  devotion. 

Several  of  my  Russian  women  friends  are 
in  hospitals,  and  I  visited  them  and  talked  to 
the  soldiers,  heard  all  the  tales  of  their  prow- 
ess. Surprising  what  a  number  of  boys 
there  are  among  the  wounded,  young  fel- 
lows of  thirteen  or  fourteen  who  have  man- 
aged somehow  to  get  into  the  Army.  It  was 
difficult  to  know  how  to  address  them — as 
boys  or  as  men. 

I  visited  the  Anglo-Russian  Hospital  at 
Petrograd  one  evening,  and  saw  how  our 
English  sisters  have  become  friends  with  the 
simple  Russian  lads,  sit  at  their  bedside  with 
dictionary  and  notebook,  and  carry  on  de- 


In  the  Hospital  159 

lightful  and  pathetic  conversations.  The 
Russian  authorities  will  not  allow  a 
wounded  man  to  leave  until  he  is  well 
enough  to  return  to  his  unit.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  the  wounded  man  remains 
longer  in  a  hospital  in  Russia  than  he  would 
in  a  similar  hospital  in  England.  And  the 
longer  they  stay  the  better  are  they  known 
to  those  who  tend  them.  The  English  in  the 
hospital  on  the  Nevsky  at  Petrograd  obtain 
a  farr  notion  of  the  character  and  tempera- 
ment of  the  Russian  soldier.  My  impres- 
sion was  that  they  admired  and  loved  him 
greatly.  He  was  all  that  had  been  written 
of  him  and  said  of  him,  and  something 
more — religious,  simple,  brave,  patient, 
cheerful,  and  sociable.  Jolly  boys  these 
Russian  wounded,  not  dour  like  Cromwell's 
soldiers  although  they  are  as  religious  as 
his,  not  Puritans,  not  intolerant.  No  one 
asks  suspiciously  of  the  sister  nursing  him, 


i6o  Russia  in  1916 

"Are  you  not  perhaps  a  Protestant?"  And 
then  feels  suddenly,  "I  am  saved  and  she  is 
damned,"  but  a  general  feeling  that  God's 
mercy  is  needed  more  for  the  poor  suffer- 
ing soldier  than  for  the  bright  angel  who  is 
nursing  him. 

When  our  women  were  on  the  point  of 
going  out  to  Russia  to  work  in  this  Anglo- 
Russian  Hospital  I  confess  I  felt  a  doubt 
as  to  whether  they  would  not  find  fault  when 
they  got  to  Russia  and  dislike  the  Russian 
Tommy  because  he  was  unlike  his  British 
brother.  But  I  was  wrong.  The  Russian 
peasant  is  convincing  when  you  see  him  day 
after  day,  and  it  is  your  lot  to  tend  him 
whilst  he  is  suffering.  Singing  their  na- 
tional songs  and  their  national  Church 
music  in  those  good  choruses  which  without 
selection  any  hospital  affords,  you  hear  the 
voice  of  Russia  with  your  ears  be  they  keen 
or  dull,  and  dressing  wounds  and  watching 


In  the  Hospital  i6i 

you  see  character.  Undoubtedly  ai  the 
same  party  of  British  nurses  and  doctors 
were  thrown  simply  into  the  midst  of  ordi- 
nary educated  men  and  women  in  Petrograd 
or  Moscow  instead  of  being  given  to  the 
wounded  they  might  easily  come  away  with 
a  less  true  impression. 

But  here  amongst  the  men  suffering  for 
you  and  me  and  all  of  us  is  Holy  Russia, 
which  was  and  which  is. 

A  considerable  amount  of  spiteful  non- 
sense is  written  against  the  notion  of  Russia 
conveyed  by  the  term  Holy  Russia,  and  I 
among  others  am  blamed  for  idealising  Rus- 
sia, or  as  Mr.  Zangwill  puts  it,  of  Ruskinis- 
ing  her.  And  another  Hebrew  writing  un- 
der an  assumed  name  finds  fault  with  me 
because  I  said  at  the  National  Liberal 
Club,  "Love  Russia,  and  do  not  distrust  her 
as  you  have  done  in  the  past."  Another 
Russian  Jew,  who  has  been  embittered  by 


1 62  Russia  in  1916 

political  treatment  writing  also  under  a 
pseudonym,  pursues  a  violently  misrepresen- 
tative  campaign  in  Russia  against  the  con- 
ception of  Russia  as  a  country  that  can  be 
spiritually  helpful  to  us. 

How  bitter  these  other  friends  of  Russia 
are!  They  are  those  who  have  suffered 
through  political  disabilities;  they  are  those, 
who  not  being  Christian  cannot  be  expected 
to  be  touched  as  we  are;  they  are  those  who 
would  prefer  to  see  in  Russia  a  free  but  non- 
Christian  democracy  as  in  France;  for  that 
end  they  are  political  revolutionaries. 

Holy  Russia  is  a  living  fact.  And  if  it 
had  ceased  to  be,  study  of  Russia  would  be 
merely  history  and  archaeology.  Nietszche 
said  to  German  women,  "Hope  that  your 
child  may  be  the  superman — the  antichrist 
— hope  that  he  may  be  a  Napoleon."  The 
covenant  to  Russian  women  and  to  our 
women  is  "Hope  that  your  child  may  be 


In  the  Hospital  163 

the  Christ-child."  It  is  the  Christian  thing 
which  Russia  has  to  give,  and  may  God 
help  the  Christian  background  of  Russia  to 
shine  clear  to  Europe.  If  Russia  were 
merely  Sturmer,  Protopopof,  Gorky,  Rubin- 
stein (the  finance  manipulator),  Reinbot 
(who  organised  the  police  graft  of  Mos- 
cow), Rasputin  (the  debauched  Siberian), 
Sukhomlinof  (who  is  at  rest  in  the  fortress 
of  Peter  and  Paul),  Masoyedof  (who  was 
hanged  for  betraying  Russia),  Azef,  Mil- 
yukof,  Kerensky,  Count  Benckendorf,  etc., 
etc.,  how  little  interest  she  would  have  for 
us! 

If  the  crassly  selfish,  materialistic,  mid- 
dle-class of  the  Russian  towns  were  Russia, 
who  would  stir  one  little  finger  to  be 
friendly  with  her,  except  simply  our  com- 
mercial people  who  see  that  money  can  be 
made  in  Russia? 

No  one  has  shown  more  unsparingly  the 


164  Russia  in  1916 

dark  side  of  the  Russian  life  than  I  have  in 
my  books.  In  describing  the  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem  I  described  the  exploitation 
that  I  saw.  I  have  perhaps  even  gone  too 
far  in  describing  the  uglinesses  of  modern 
Russia  (in  "Changing  Russia").  But  I  do 
believe  in  Holy  Russia,  and  as  far  as  Russia 
is  concerned  do  not  care  for  anything  else. 
1  hate  to  see  her  being  commercialised  and 
exploited,  and  to  see  her  vulgar  rich  in- 
creasing at  the  expense  of  the  life-blood  of 
the  nation.  Without  any  question  the  new 
class  of  middle-rich  coming  into  being 
through  Russia's  industrial  prosperity  is  the 
worst  of  its  kind  in  Europe.  They  are 
worse  than  anything  in  Germany,  and  it  is 
they  who  are  beginning  to  have  the  power  in 
Russia.  It  is  the  green  and  inexperienced 
who  think  that  power  wrested  from  the 
Tsar  and  his  Court  is  grasped  by  the  ideal- 
ists of  Russia.     It  is  grasped  by  the  cap- 


In  the  Hospital  165 

italists  and  often  by  the  foreign  capitalists. 

Poor  Russia,  she  has  not  many  faults,  she 
has  only  many  misfortunes.  I  am  asked  to 
discount  Holy  Russia  and  set  off  various 
things  against  it.  The  Russians  steal — well, 
they  did  not  steal  in  the  villages  till  the 
railway  came,  bringing  the  thieves.  And 
where  there  are  no  railways  now  there  are 
no  thieves.  They  lie — that  is  a  matter  for 
psychological  inquiry.  They  do  not  lie  as 
we  lie.  They  are  cruel.  So  are  we  all, 
but  the  Russians  are  tender  also.  Tender- 
ness is  their  characteristic.  What  else  is 
there  to  say  against  the  Russian  peasant? 
He  does  not  work  enough. 

Well,  grant  everything,  admit  all  that  can 
be  said  against  him,  and  subtract  all  from 
Holy  Russia.  I  am  not  afraid  to  do  it.  I 
have  had  to  do  it  long  ago  for  myself.  And 
there  still  remains  Holy  Russia,  the  beauti- 
ful, spiritual  individuality  of  the  nation. 


XVI 

THE  PROSPECTS  FOR  PEACE 

The  year  19 16  closes  in  peace  discussion. 
There  has  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  like- 
lihood that  the  war,  the  khaki  and  the  guns, 
the  gallant  men  and  the  sacred  graves  alike 
would  be  snowed  over  with  papers  and 
eventually  almost  lost  sight  of.  Some  elo- 
quent German  pastor  cried  out  in  a  war  ser- 
mon— 

"White  snow,  white  snow,  fall,  fall  for 
seven  weeks ;  all  may'st  thou  cover,  far  and 
wide,  but  never  England's  shame;  white 
snow,  white  snow,  never  the  sins  of  Eng- 
land." 

Our  attitude  would  be  rather :  Never  the 
sins  of  Germany.     But  even  they  must  be 

166 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  167 

covered  at  last.  And  the  snow  which  the 
pastor  asked  for  has  begun  to  fall,  blown  by 
a  somewhat  gusty  westerly  wind. 

It  is  America  that  is  sending  it  across  and 
I  imagine  that  Americans  would  be  spe- 
cially interested  what  Russians  think  of  the 
prospects  for  peace. 

The  problem  of  peace  as  it  afifects  Russia 
differs  somewhat  from  the  problem  as  it 
affects  France  and  Britain.  It  is  well  to 
keep  in  view  the  central  facts. 

Germany  made  war  on  Russia  and  showed 
herself  ready  to  sacrifice  Russia  on  the  altar 
of  her  own  greatness.  The  Kaiser  so  far 
from  being  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Tsar, 
set  out  to  despoil  the  Tsar  of  tracts  of  ter- 
ritory. Russia  being  an  autocracy  much 
more  depended  on  the  Tsar  and  his  min- 
isters than  on  the  Duma  or  the  voice  of  the 
people  manifested  in  the  press.  He  an- 
swered War  with  War.     As  far  as  can  be 


1 68  Russia  in  1916 

ascertained  no  attempt  was  made  by  so- 
called  "Germans  at  court"  to  stave  off  war  or 
make  a  pact  with  Germany  and  sacrifice 
France.  Several  large  German  landown- 
ers sold  their  estates  and  returned  to  the 
Fatherland  before  the  war  broke  out,  for 
they  knew  the  cash  was  coming.  Germany 
did  not  wish  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  Russia  before  July,  1914.  Germany 
thought  it  more  profitable  to  sacrifice  the 
Russians  than  to  share  with  them  power  in 
Europe. 

The  German  people  confident  in  the  pos- 
session of  an  enormous  armament  and  of  a 
genius  for  organisation  which  put  them 
first  and  the  rest  nowhere,  despised  Russia. 
Russia's  friendship  was  not  worth  striving  to 
obtain.  There  were  admirable  foundations 
for  building  a  German-Russian  friendship 
of  a  most  lucrative  kind,  deep  German  roots 
in  finance,  commerce,  government  and  ad- 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  169 

ministration  and  blood  ties  and  inter-mar- 
riages amongst  important  German  and  Rus- 
sian families,  but  it  was  thought  to  be  more 
profitable  to  fight  than  to  be  friends. 

Doubtless  a  German  victory  would  have 
increased  the  profits  of  many  pseudo-Rus- 
sian merchant  houses.  But  from  the  Im- 
perial point  of  view  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  is  probably  not  the  slight- 
est doubt  or  vagueness  in  the  Tsar's  mind, 
and  there  has  not  been  since  the  outbreak  of 
war.  The  Kaiser  has  not  only  injured  but 
has  insulted  Russia.  There  is  a  quarrel 
which  can  only  be  happily  settled  by  the 
Germans  being  beaten  utterly  in  the  field. 

The  Russian  people  ratified  the  decision 
of  the  Tsar.  There  was  a  very  great  una- 
nimity, doubtless  revolutionary  Russia  was 
glad  to  be  fighting  for  the  same  cause  as 
republican  France  and  free  England.  The 
war  has  been  called  all  manner  of  things 


170  Russia  in  1916 

pleasing  from  a  liberal  point  of  view,  a  war 
to  protect  small  nations,  a  war  against  mili- 
tarism, a  war  of  progress  against  reaction. 
But  fundamentally  it  is  a  quarrel.  The 
press  can  say  what  it  likes  and  theorists  may 
theorise  in  terms  interesting  or  not  interest- 
ing to  those  at  the  head  of  affairs.  But 
they  for  their  part  know  one  thing  clearly, 
that  it  is  a  quarrel — it  does  not  matter  how 
people  justify  it  to  their  consciences  as  long 
as  they  co-operate  heartily  in  the  great  task 
of  defeating  the  enemy. 

The  war,  however,  goes  on  a  long  time 
and  there  have  been  many  blunders  and 
scandals.  The  political  extremists  care  for 
one  thing  more  than  for  defeating  Germany 
and  that  is  for  their  political  game  at  home 
whatever  it  may  be.  It  has  occurred  to 
them — cannot  the  war  be  made  the  means  of 
overthrowing  the  autocracy  as  such,  by  mak- 
ing ministers  responsible  to  the  Duma  in- 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  171 

stead  of  to  the  Emperor  as  heretofore.  And 
since  the  Russian  retreat  of  191 5  a  large  po- 
litical game  with  important  possibilities  has 
developed.  Political  war  of  a  kind  has 
raged  unceasingly  and  rages  now. 

This  has  played  a  little  into  German 
hands  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  complete, 
steadfast  and  unwavering  hostility  of  the 
Tsar  towards  Germany,  Russia  would  have 
succumbed  to  the  seductions  of  internal 
strife.  Germany  as  it  is,  hopes  steadily  for 
revolution  in  Russia — for  a  nation  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand. 

All  through  1916  a  rumour,  however,  has 
been  persistently  spread  by  word  of  mouth 
that  the  Tsar  was  likely  to  sign  a  separate 
peace.  Every  scandal  that  could  damage 
the  name  of  the  Tsar  has  been  repeated  and 
magnified — the  object  being  to  obtain  a 
transference  of  French  and  British  sympa- 
thies from  the  Tsar  and  his  ministers  to  the 


172  Russia  in  1916 

Duma  and  the  progressive  parties  in  the 
nation.  Such  a  transference  of  sympathy 
would  naturally  endanger  the  stability  of 
Russia  and  play  into  the  German  hands — 
quite  apart  from  the  question  of  the  future  of 
Russian  internal  government  and  control 

I  cannot  record  here  the  gossip  about 
Rasputin,  Sturmer,  the  Empress,  the  falls  of 
ministers.  An  immense  amount  of  random 
rubbish  is  talked  in  Russia.  Talking  po- 
litical scandal  is  one  way  of  passing  the 
time.  The  influence  of  Rasputin  (a  Siber- 
ian peasant  and  not  a  monk,  not  a  priest, 
though  he  called  himself  Father  and  gave 
blessings)  was  greatly  exaggerated.  Some 
ladies  took  him  up,  as  miracle-workers  and 
magicians  are  taken  up  when  they  can  be 
found.  But  he  never  had  any  influence  with 
the  Tsar.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  curious 
character  but  he  is  now  dead  and  the  gossip 
about  him  will  cease.     I  do  not  believe  he 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  173 

was  working  for  Germany — as  he  had  very 
little  notion  of  what  Germany  was  and  could 
not  even  pronounce  three  consecutive  words 
of  his  own  language  correctly.  He  was  an 
obscure  being  and  degraded  even  so.  He 
prophesied  that  the  Tsarevitch  would  lose 
his  health  if  he,  Rasputin,  should  cease  to 
support  him.  I  should  say  the  boy's  health 
would  improve,  now  that  the  black  arts  have 
been  removed. 

Sturmer,  the  ex-Premier,  was  the  most 
unpopular  prime-minister  Russia  has  had. 
He,  happily,  has  gone.  And  in  Russia  they 
never  come  back. 

The  fall  of  Sazonof  was  a  shock.  The 
motive  for  his  retirement  is  said  to  be  the 
Japanese  agreement  which  he  arranged.  It 
was  also  said  to  be  due  to  disagreement  over 
Poland.  The  British  diplomatic  body  has 
undoubtedly  leaned  on  Sazonof  and  would 
like  to  bring  him  back.     Our  diplomacy  in 


174  Russia  in  1916 

Russia  during  191 6  has,  however,  been  in  no 
way  inspired.  Its  object  seems  to  have  been 
to  play  a  political  game,  as  at  Salonika  so 
at  Petrograd,  and  to  back  the  Duma  at  any 
cost.  Buchanan  has  turned  out  to  be  an  ex- 
traordinary speech  maker;  a  contrast  to  the 
silent  Russian  Ambassador  in  London. 

A  cloud  has  been  over  the  East  obscuring 
it  from  our  eyes.  Happily  however  at  the 
end  of  the  year  the  cloud  has  lifted.  Stur- 
mer  has  gone.  Rasputin  is  dead  and  Russia 
has  announced  clearly  by  the  voice  of 
her  new  minister  and  emphatically  through 
the  lips  of  the  Tsar  what  she  is  fighting 
for. 

The  Tsar's  message  to  his  army  before 
Christmas  has  more  significance  in  it  than 
many  parliamentary  debates,  speeches  of 
ministers  or  theories  of  theorists,  and  I  leave 
it  fittingly  as  the  close  of  this  attempt  at  a 
political  elucidation. 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  ij^ 

It  is  now  more  than  two  years  since  Ger- 
many in  the  midst  of  peace  and  after  secretly 
preparing  over  a  long  period  to  enslave  ail 
the  nations  of  Europe,  suddenly  attacked 
Russia  and  her  faithful  Ally  France.  This 
attack  compelled  England  to  join  us  and 
take  part  in  our  battle. 

The  complete  disdain  which  Germany 
showed  for  principles  of  international  law  as 
demonstrated  by  the  violation  of  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium  and  her  pitiless  cruelty 
towards  the  peaceful  inhabitants  in  the  occu- 
pied provinces,  little  by  little  united  the 
Great  Powers  of  Europe  against  Germany 
and  her  ally  Austria. 

Under  the  pressure  of  the  German  troops, 
which  were  well  provided  with  the  tech- 
nical aids  to  warfare,  Russia  and  France 
were  compelled  in  the  first  year  of  the  war  to 
give  up  a  portion  of  their  territory,  but  this 
temporary  reverse  did  not  break  the  spirit  of 
our  faithful  Allies,  nor  of  you  my  gallant 
troops.  In  time,  by  the  concentrated  efforts 
of  the  Government,  the  disparity  of  our  own 


176  Russia  in  1916 

and  the  German  technical  resources  was 
gradually  reduced.  But  long  before  this 
time,  even  from  the  autumn  of  1915,  our 
enemy  was  experiencing  difficulty  in  retain- 
ing the  territory  he  had  occupied,  and  in  the 
spring  and  summer  of  the  current  year  suf- 
fered a  number  of  severe  defeats  and  as- 
sumed the  defensive  along  the  whole  front. 
His  strength  apparently  is  waning,  but  the 
strength  of  Russia  and  her  gallant  Allies 
continues  to  grow  without  failing. 

Germany  is  feeling  that  the  hour  of  her 
complete  defeat  is  near,  and  near  also  the 
hour  of  retribution  for  all  her  wrong-doings 
and  for  the  violation  of  moral  laws.  Simi- 
larly, as  in  the  time  when  her  war  strength 
was  superior  to  the  strength  of  her  neigh- 
bours, Germany  suddenly  declared  war 
upon  them,  so  now,  feeling  her  weakness,  she 
suddenly  offers  to  enter  into  peace  negotia- 
tions and  to  complete  them  before  her  mili- 
tary talent  is  exhausted.  At  the  same  time 
she  is  creating  a  false  impression  about  the 
strength  of  her  Army  by  making  use  of  her 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  177 

temporary  success  over  the  Rumanians,  who 
had  not  succeeded  in  gaining  experience  in 
the  conduct  of  modern  warfare. 

But  if,  originally,  Germany  was  in  the  po- 
sition to  declare  war  and  fall  upon  Russia 
and  her  Ally  France,  in  her  most  favour- 
able time,  having  strengthened  in  wartime 
the  Alliance,  among  which  is  to  be  found  all 
powerful  England  and  noble  Italy,  this 
Alliance  in  its  turn  has  also  the  possibil- 
ity of  entering  into  peace  negotiations  at 
such  a  time  as  it  considers  favourable  for 
itself. 

The  time  has  not  yet  arrived.  The 
enemy  has  not  yet  been  driven  out  of  the 
provinces  occupied  by  her.  The  attain- 
ment by  Russia  of  the  tasks  created  by  the 
war — the  regaining  of  Constantinople  and 
the  Dardanelles,  as  well  as  the  creation  of  a 
free  Poland  from  all  three  of  her  now  in- 
complete tribal  districts — has  not  yet  been 
guaranteed. 

To  conclude  peace  at  this  moment  would 
mean  the  failure  to  utilise  the  fruits  of  the 


178  Russia  in  1916 

untold  trials  of  you,  heroic  Russian  troops 
and  Fleet.  These  trials,  and  still  more  the 
sacred  memory  of  those  noble  sons  of  Russia 
who  have  fallen  on  the  field  of  battle,  do  not 
permit  the  thought  of  peace  until  the  final 
victory  over  our  enemies. 

Who  dares  to  think  that  he  who  brought 
about  the  beginning  of  the  war  shall  have  it 
in  his  power  to  conclude  the  war  at  any  time 
he  likes? 

I  do  not  doubt  that  every  faithful  son  of 
Holy  Russia  under  arms  who  entered  into 
the  firing  line,  as  well  as  those  working  in 
the  interior  for  the  increase  of  her  war 
strength  or  the  creation  of  her  industry,  will 
be  convinced  that  peace  can  only  be  given 
to  the  enemy  after  he  has  been  driven  from 
our  borders;  and  then  only  wiien,  finally 
broken,  he  shall  give  to  us  and  our  faithful 
Allies  reliable  proof  of  the  impossibility  of 
a  repetition  of  the  treacherous  attack  and 
a  firm  assurance  that  he  will  keep  to  these 
promises.  By  the  strength  of  these  guaran- 
tees he  will  be  bound  to  the  fulfilment  in 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  179 

times  of  peace  of  those  things  which  he  un- 
dertakes. 

Let  us  be  firm  in  the  certainty  of  our  vic- 
tory and  the  Almighty  will  bless  our  stand- 
ards and  will  cover  them  afresh  with  glory, 
and  will  give  to  us  a  peace  worthy  of  your 
heroic  deeds,  my  glorious  troops — a  peace 
for  which  future  generations  will  bless  your 
memory. 

Nicholas. 

Postscript:  191 5,  191 6  and  then  annus 
mirabilis  we  are  told.  Wonderful  things 
will  happen  in  1917.  That  means  we  hope 
and  expect  peace  in  1917.  Germany  does 
also.  The  only  peace  possible,  however, 
seems  to  be  that  of  complete  victory  over 
the  enemy.  As  a  personal  opinion  I  think 
it  unlikely  that  complete  victory  will  be  ob- 
tained in  1917.  It  is  also  unlikely  that  a 
compromise  peace  will  be  effected.  The 
bill  against  Germany  is  too  heavy  for  the 
German  nation  to  accept. 

If  instead  of  making  a  vague  general  ofTer 


i8o  Russia  in  1916 

of  peace  in  December,  1916,  Germany  had 
offered  the  status  quo  we  might  possibly  with 
great  humiliation  and  vexation  have  all  ac- 
cepted the  proposal.  I  think  we  should  not, 
but  we  conceivably  might.  But  Germany 
and  her  allies  would  have  liked  to  keep  some 
of  the  fruits  of  their  victories  and  they 
could  not  then  ofifer  status  quo.  In  all  prob- 
ability they  will  offer  it  later  but  then  it  will 
be  too  late  as  it  is  too  late  now  in  January, 
1917.  The  bill  against  the  Germans  grows 
more  heavy  every  day  and  every  week  the 
war  is  prolonged.  Our  chance  of  victory 
over  them  at  the  same  time  seems  to  increase 
as  steadily.  Next  summer  when  the  Ger- 
mans have  been  routed  in  France  and  Bel- 
gium and  Poland — shall  we  be  more  likely 
to  consider  a  peace  that  would  be  acceptable 
to  the  Germans?  I  am  sure  not.  Will 
Russia  be  more  ready?  Certainly  not. 
Rather  the  demands  on  Germany  will  have 
increased. 

I  do  not  write  this  urging  more  war  or 
craving  for  peace,  but  rather  as  a  commen- 


The  Prospects  for  Peace  i8i 

tator.  I  am  sorry  for  the  Germans  in  a  way. 
But  I  realise  that  in  July-August,  1914,  they 
chose  a  line  of  action  from  which  followed  a 
certain  set  of  consequences  if  they  failed. 

We  on  the  Entente  side  have  not  improved 
our  cause.  We  have  tried  to  fight  the  Ger- 
mans in  their  way.  We  have  seemed  to  be- 
have abominably  in  Greece — have  become 
entangled  in  an  irrelevant  political  quarrel 
there.  But  then  we  have  simply  been  doing 
the  best  we  can,  according  to  our  ability. 
Not  many  idealists  would  rush  to  offer  their 
life  for  our  cause  now  and  great  numbers 
have  lost  interest  in  it.  But  the  unsolvable 
quarrel  remains.  How  long  the  war  will 
last  seems  to  depend  chiefly  on  the  length  of 
time  the  German  armies  can  hold  out  against 
the  ever-increasing  machinery  of  death  and 
destruction  which  faces  them. 


XVII 

HOME 

Because  of  the  regulations  regarding  tak- 
ing printed  matter  in  one's  luggage  I  was 
obliged  to  post  to  London  some  thirty  pack- 
ets of  books.  Possibly  by  appealing  to  our 
Embassy  at  Petrograd  I  might  have  obtained 
what  is  called  a  Foreign  Office  bag  and  have 
been  immune  from  censor  revision.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  British  subjects  are  ac- 
commodated in  this  way.  But  it  seems  to 
me  to  be  an  incorrect  thing  to  do. 

I  had  bought  some  dozens  of  pictures 
and  ikons.  I  had  precious  manuscript 
which  I  should  not  dream  of  trusting  to  the 
post,  and  if  it  had  been  proposed  to  confis- 
cate that  manuscript   at  Archangel   as    I 

182 


Home  183 

stepped  aboard  I  should  have  remained  in 
Russia  to  save  it.  But  I  got  through  with- 
out trouble. 

Our  people  at  Archangel  w^ere  extremely 
kind  to  me,  and  put  me  on  a  returning  am- 
munition ship,  and  I  went  all  the  way  to 
Britain  in  comfort  and  without  change. 

The  boat  was  a  turret  ship,  one  of  those 
with  hollowed-in  sides,  constructed  to  evade 
the  true  charges  of  the  Suez  Canal,  where 
the  toll  is  according  to  the  breadth  of  the 
vessel.  It  had  been  ten  times  a  year  through 
the  Suez  Canal  for  twenty  years,  and  now 
for  the  first  time  in  its  history  was  in  north- 
ern latitudes.  The  crew  were  shivering 
Lascars,  tripping  about  in  one  garment  and 
looking  more  like  girls  than  men.  Each 
and  every  one  had  received  from  the  Gov- 
ernment two  warm  suits  of  underclothing, 
woolly  trousers,  coats,  and  wraps,  but  these 
things  were  locked  away  in  their  boxes,  and 


184  Russia  in  1916 

you  could  not  persuade  them  to  wear  one. 
For  the  Lascar  is  a  real  Jew  in  temperatment 
and  has  a  passion  foi  selling  clothes  and 
chaffering  over  them. 

We  steamed  out  gently  through  the  traf- 
fic and  along  the  narrow  channels  of  the 
many-mouthed  river,  and  after  some  hours 
got  clear  into  the  White  Sea.^ 

When  we  passed  a  buoy  the  captain,  who 
was  rather  a  character,  would  retire  to  his 
sitting-room,  take  up  his  concertina,  and 
play  "Land  of  Hope  and  Glory,"  the  "Dead 
March"  in  Saul,  "Ip-I-addy,"  and  other 
favourites. 

We  sailed  under  sealed  orders  and  did  not 
sight  another  vessel  except  British  war-ships 
and  patrol  boats  till  we  were  nearing  Ler- 
wick. 

In  the  Arctic  there  was  calm,  and  we  re- 

1  Seven    lines   concerning   mines    and    buoys    excluded   by 
Censor. 


Home  185 

captured  the  light  which  was  fleeting  with 
the  approach  to  the  equinox.  The  even- 
ings grew  appreciably  longer.  It  was  cold, 
and  the  barometer  was  going  down  "for  ice." 

The  captain  and  officers  felt  the  cold 
badly,  stamped  to  keep  warm,  and  came  in 
to  meals  with  red  faces  and  bright  eyes.  "If 
there  is  a  Gulf  Stream  it  ought  to  be  warmer 
than  it  is,"  said  the  captain.  "Do  you  be- 
lieve in  its  existence?" 

I  could  not  give  an  opinion. 

"According  to  the  hand-book,  there  is," 
said  the  skipper.  "It  flows  north-east,  but  a 
little  note  says  4t  has  been  known  to  flow 
south-west'  Two  and  two  make  four,  but 
they  have  been  known  to  make  five.  All  I 
can  say  is  that  if  there  is  a  Gulf  Stream  we 
are  going  against  it  at  this  moment  and  beat- 
ing our  engines.  Our  maximum  is  11^ 
knots,  and  we  are  doing  12." 


1 86  Russia  in  1916 

It  was  touching  to  hear  English  coming 
over  the  water  when  we  were  hailed  by 
British  patrols. 

"What  is  the  name  of  the  ship?" 

"Glamis." 

"What  is  your  cargo?" 

"Wood — and — flax.    Wood — and — flax." 

"Ah  well,  I  can't  attend  to  you  now,  you'd 
bettah  drop  your  ankah." 

At  one  point,  to  the  great  disgust  of  the 
skipper,  we  were  stopped  by  a  cruiser  and 
some  twenty  mail-bags  were  sent  to  us.  And 
we  lost  our  steam.  "They  signalled  us  six 
miles  away.  Why  couldn't  they  have  said 
they  wanted  us  to  slow  up  for  mails,  instead 
of  allowing  us  to  come  up  at  full  speed, 
and  then  giving  us  'Stop  immediately'  and 
making  us  reverse  the  engines  and  go  full 
astern." 

We  were  a  lot  of  cheerful  British  grum- 
blers.    I  was  the  only  passenger  on  board, 


Home  187 

and  so  got  to  know  them  all  pretty  well. 
Every  man  was  a  character  in  his  way,  and 
their  remarks  filled  me  constantly  with 
mirth. 

Our  last  three  days  were  stormy  in  the  ex- 
treme— regular  equinoctial  weather.  The 
captain  did  not  sleep,  for  the  waters  were, 
in  his  opinion,  "too  submariny."  I  put  out 
my  lifebelt  and  wrapped  up  my  manuscripts 
in  a  waterproof  packet. 

"What  will  happen  should  we  strike  a 
mine  or  be  torpedoed?"  I  asked  of  the  cap- 
tain. 

"Unless  the  engines  were  blown  up  we 
should  proceed  as  best  we  could  on  the  in- 
jured ship,"  said  he.  He  showed  me  what 
were  the  vital  sections  of  the  vessel. 

"In  any  case  we  should  not  take  to  the 
boats  except  in  the  worst  extremity,"  said 
he.  "For  the  Lascars  have  no  will  to  live 
and  they  would  not  row  us  far.    We  should 


1 88  Russia  in  1916 

throw  three  dead  overboard  every  morning, 
they  so  quickly  lose  hope." 

At  Lerwick  we  learned  the  name  of  the 
port  for  which  we  had  to  make.  'Twas 
Aberdeen,  and  as  the  captain  shouted  this 
to  us  from  the  boat  in  which  he  was  return- 
ing from  the  man-of-war,  all  the  officers 
rushed  to  look  at  their  shipping  almanacks 
to  see  what  the  tides  were.  We  made  out 
that  we  could  just  get  in  in  time.  And 
the  vessel  that  night  did  the  best  she  ever 
did. 

Still  we  missed  the  tide  and  had  to  wait 
all  day  outside  Aberdeen,  and  that  was  very 
tantalising.  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to 
stay  the  night  at  a  hotel,  and  then  suddenly 
the  Daylight  Saving  Bill  made  me  an  un- 
looked-for present  of  an  hour,  and  it  was 
possible  to  catch  the  8.30  night  train  for 
London. 

An  extremely  cautious  Customs  Officer 


Home  189 

looked  at  my  things,  but  said  naught,  and 
he  insisted  on  my  unpacking  the  samovar 
which  I  was  bringing  home.  When  he  saw 
it,  he  remarked: 

''It'll  be  something  for  taking  pictures?" 

He  said  this  because  I  had  put  in  the 
chimney  a  number  of  pictures  and  maps  to 
keep  them  from  crumpling. 

The  doctor  when  he  came  thought  we 
might  be  detained  in  quarantine  for  a  week. 
The  captain  had  a  sore  throat.  He  must 
go  to  a  hospital  and  have  a  culture  of  it 
taken. 

"A  lot  of  bally  rot,  I  call  it,"  the  captain 
kept  repeating,  and  tears  were  almost  trick- 
ling from  his  eyes. 

The  doctor,  however,  let  me  go,  and  I  sent 
a  small  boy  to  fetch  a  taxi.  The  taxi  ap- 
peared at  about  8.25  P.  M.,  and  I  just  got 
to  the  station  in  time.  There  was  half  a 
minute. 


190  Russia  in  1916 

"Take  it  easy,  you've  plenty  of  time,"  said 
a  porter  to  me,  characteristically. 

All  my  possessions  were  labelled,  and  the 
doors  of  the  guard's  pan  opened  in  the  mov- 
ing train  and  accepted  the  extra  bags.  I 
sped  along  through  a  throng  of  v^^omen  wav- 
ing good-bye  to  soldiers,  and  got  into  a  car- 
riage as  by  miracle. 

There  for  a  moment  I  paused  and  consid- 
ered. 

What  a  contrast  to  Russian  ways,  the  pos- 
sibility of  getting  of¥  by  a  train  with  such  a 
hairbreadth  of  margin. 

The  contrast  was  flattering  to  ourselves. 

Soon,  however,  came  another  contrast,  less 
flattering.  Two  drunken  men  got  in.  I 
was  feeling  particularly  tender  to  everything 
English,  and  could  not  possibly  have  felt 
critical  or  wished  to  grumble. 

But  one  of  the  drunken  men  wanted  to 
fight.     He  stood  up  and  held  on  a  minute  to 


Home  191 

the  window-strap,  looked  at  me  vaguely,  and 
exclaimed: 

"I  pronounce  my  ultimatio." 

''What  is  it?"  I  asked  cheerfully. 

"Self-defence,"  he  replied,  and  then  re- 
lapsed into  his  seat  with  a  bump. 

So  I  was  home.  And  all  night  long  the 
train  rushed  on  to  London. 


THE  END 


PRINTED    IN    THE   UNITID   STATES   OF    AMERICA 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

Through  Russian  Central  Asia 

Illmirattd,  $2.2j 

This  book  describes  a  journey  by  the  author  through 
Russian  Central  Asia.  Among  the  topics  which  the  au- 
thor touches  upon  are  the  Russian  pioneers,  Mohammed- 
anism and  its  characteristic  expression,  the  colored  tribes, 
Russian  rule,  the  expansion  of  the  Russian  empire  and 
the  question  of  danger  to  India.  The  volume  tells  of 
much  tramping,  of  wayside  experiences,  of  sights  in  the 
desert  and  nights  under  the  Asian  stars  or  in  the  tents  of 
the  nomads. 

"A  delightful  book.  .  .  .  Always  and  everywhere 
Stephen  Graham  has  the  gift  of  transferring  his  knowl- 
edge of  Russia  to  the  reader's  heart  and  brain."  —  C/ti- 
cago  Herald. 

"  Full  of  information  and  as  charming  as  it  is  informing. 
It  is  rich  in  the  lure  of  the  open  road  ...  in  the  romance 
of  old  cities,  in  the  wildness  of  the  vast  waste  spaces.  .  .  . 
In  the  view  it  gives  of  a  phase  of  Russian  life  entirely  new 
to  American  readers."  —  New  York  Times. 


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The  Way  of  Martha  and  the  Way  of  Mary 

Illustrated,  $2.00 

Stephen  Graham  is  a  close  student  of  Russia ;  he  has  a  consuming 
interest  in  the  Russian  nature  and  deep  sympathy  with  Russian  char- 
acter. For  many  years  he  has  Hved  among  the  people  of  whom  he 
writes.  "  The  Way  of  Martha  and  the  Way  of  Mary  "  is  a  study  of 
Russian  national  characteristics,  particularly  as  typified  by  her  religious 
spirit,  which  is  contrasted  with  the  spirit  of  Western  Christianity. 
A  national  idea,  national  unity,  has  its  origin  in  the  national  religion, 
and  this  is  especially  true  of  Russia,  because  the  intensity  of  Russian 
character  demands  some  absorbing  ideal  to  which  it  may  turn. 

"All  that  is  beautiful  in  Russia's  life,  art  and  culture,"  writes  Mr. 
Graham,  "  springs  from  the  particular  and  characteristic  Christian  ideas 
in  the  depths  of  her.  She  is  essentially  a  great  and  wonderful  unity. 
It  is  of  that  essential  unity  that  I  write." 

"  The  Way  of  Martha  and  the  Way  of  Mary  "  is  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  list  of  important  books  Mr.  Graham  has  written  on  Russia, 
books  that  are  treasuries  of  information  and  a  source  of  inspiration  to 
those  who  love  mankind. 


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Russia  and  the  World 

Illmtrated,  cloth,  8vo,  $2.00 


For  more  than  seven  years  Stephen  Graham  has  been  a  close  stu- 
dent of  things  Russian.  Compelled  by  an  intense  sympathy  with  the 
country  and  its  people,  he  forsook  his  native  England  and  went  to 
Russia  when  he  was  twenty-three  to  study  at  first  hand  the  life  and 
customs  of  that  country.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  attachment 
which  grew  stronger  with  the  years  and  out  of  which  have  come  several 
of  the  most  important  contributions  made  to  English  literature  bearing 
on  the  Russia  of  modern  times. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  present  European  war  Mr.  Graham  was  in 
Russia,  and  his  book  opens,  therefore,  with  a  description  of  the  way  the 
news  of  war  was  received  on  the  Chinese  frontier,  one  thousand  miles 
from  a  railway  station,  where  he  happened  to  be  when  the  Tsar's  sum- 
mons came.  Following  this  come  other  chapters  on  Russia  and  the 
War,  considering  such  subjects  as.  Is  It  a  Last  War?,  Why  Russia  Is 
Fighting,  The  Economic  Isolation  of  Russia,  An  Aeroplane  Hunt  at 
Warsaw,  Suffering  Poland :  A  Belgium  of  the  East  and  The  Soldier  and 
the  Cross. 

But  "Russia  and  the  World"  is  not  by  any  means  wholly  a  war 
book.  It  is  a  comprehensive  survey  of  Russian  problems.  Inasmuch 
as  the  War  is  at  present  one  of  her  problems  it  receives  its  due  consid- 
eration. It  has  been,  however,  Mr.  Graham's  intention  to  supply  the 
very  definite  need  that  there  is  for  enlightenment  in  English  and 
American  circles  as  to  the  Russian  nation,  what  its  people  think  and 
feel  on  great  world  matters.  On  almost  every  country  there  are  more 
books  and  more  concrete  information  than  on  his  chosen  land.  In  fact, 
"  Russia  and  the  World  "  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  first  to 
deal  with  it  in  any  adequate  fashion. 


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A  Tramp's  Sketches 

Cloth,  illustrated,  8vo,  $1.75 


"  The  author's  notes  on  people  and  places,  jotted  down  in  the  open 
air,  while  sitting  on  logs  in  the  forests  or  on  bridges  over  mountain 
streams,  form  a  simple  narrative  of  a  walking  trip  through  Russia. 
The  sketches  read  like  those  of  a  rebel  against  modern  conditions  and 
commercialism,  who  prefers  to  these  the  life  of  a  wanderer  in  the  wil- 
derness."—  Outdoor  World. 

"A  book  throbbing  with  life  which  cannot  help  but  prove  of  interest 
to  many  readers.  The  book  is  a  treasury  of  information,  and  will  be  a 
source  of  great  inspiration  to  those  who  love  mankind ;  while  the 
author  tells  us  much  of  the  sorrow  and  degradation  of  the  world  he 
also  tells  as  much  of  his  own  high  and  noble  thinking." — The  Ex- 
aminer. 

"  It  is  with  life  itself  rather  than  the  countries  visited  that  this  col- 
lection of  sketches  is  concerned.  It  is  personal  and  friendly  in  tone, 
and  was  written  mostly  in  the  open  air  while  the  author  was  tramping 
along  the  Caucasian  and  Crimean  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  on  a 
pilgrimage  with  Russian  peasants  to  Jerusalem." — Country  Life  in 
America. . 

*'Mr.  Graham  has  seen  many  interesting  parts  of  the  world,  and  he 
tells  of  his  travels  in  a  pleasing  way."  —  Suburban  Life. 

"...  there  is  much  that  the  reader  will  heartily  appreciate  and 
enjoy."  —  Boston  Transcript. 


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7ith  Poor  Immigrants  to  America 

Decorated  doth,  8vo,  illustrated,  $2.00 


"  We  collected  on  the  quay  at  Liverpool  —  English,  Russians,  Jews, 
Germans,  Swedes,  Finns.  .  .  .  Three  hundred  yards  out  in  the  harbor 
stood  the  red  funneled  Cunarder  which  was  to  be-ar  us  to  America.  .  .  ." 
The  beginning  of  the  voyage  is  thus  described,  a  voyage  during  which 
the  reader  sees  life  from  a  new  angle.  The  trip  across  is,  however,  but 
the  forerunner  of  even  more  interesting  days.  Stephen  Graham  has 
the  spirit  of  the  real  adventurer  and  the  story  of  his  intimate  association 
with  the  immigrants  is  an  intensely  human  and  dramatic  narrative,  valu- 
able both  as  literature  and  as  a  sympathetic  interpretation  of  a  move- 
ment which  too  frequently  is  viewed  only  with  unfriendly  eyes. 

"Mr.  Graham  has  the  spirit  of  the  real  adventurer.  He  prefers 
people  to  the  Pullmans,  steerage  passage  to  first  cabin.  In  his  min- 
gling with  the  poorer  classes  he  comes  in  contact  intimately  with  a  life 
which  most  writers  know  only  by  hearsay,  and  interesting  bits  of  this 
life  and  that  which  is  picturesque  and  romantic  and  unlooked  for  he 
transcribes  to  paper  with  a  freshness  and  vividness  that  mark  him  a 
good  mixer  with  men,  a  keen  observer  and  a  skillful  adept  with  the 
pen."  — North  American. 


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With  the  Russian  Pilgrims  to  Jerusalem 

Decorated chthy  illustrated,  8vo,  $^.75 


The  journey  of  the  Russian  peasants  to  Jerusalem  has  never  been 
described  before  in  any  language,  not  even  in  Russian.  Yet  it  is  the 
most  significant  thing  in  the  Russian  life  of  to-day.  In  the  story  lies  a 
great  national  epic. 

"Mr.  Stephen  Graham  writes  with  full  sympathy  for  the  point  of 
view  of  the  devout,  simple-minded,  credulous  peasants  whose  compan- 
ion he  became  in  the  trip  by  boat  from  Constantinople  to  Jaffa  and 
thence  on  foot  to  the  holy  places."  — The  Nation. 

"  Apart  from  the  value  which  must  be  attached  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  glimpses  of  Russian  life  that  Mr.  Graham  gives  in  his  latest  book, 
it  also  clearly  ranks  him  as  the  best  modern  writer  of  the  saga  of  vaga- 
bondage."—  JV.  V.  Times. 

"  Mr.  Graham  has  written  an  intensely  interesting  book,  one  that  is 
a  delightful  mixture  of  description,  impression,  and  delineation  of  a 
peculiar  but  colorful  character."  —  Book  News  Monthly. 

"  A  book  of  intensely  human  interest."  —  The  Continent. 

"  The  book  is  beautifully  produced,  illustrated  with  thirty-eight  ex- 
ceptionally fine  snapshots,  and  is  of  commanding  interest,  whether  read 
as  a  mere  piece  of  adventure  or  as  revelation  of  an  almost  unknown 
tract  of  religious  belief."  —  Christian  Advocate. 

"The  story  is  written  with  a  graphic  and  eloquent  pen." —  The  Con- 
gregationalist. 


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UNT' 


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